_//\\________________________________________________________________________
_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E__________________________________________ May, 2000
__\\_________________________________________________________________________
\\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 126 Subscribers
_____________________________________________________________________________


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Table Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Opening:
           Message From the Editor
           Letters From Our Readers
     Features:
           Mekka & Symposium 2000 Results
     Columns:
        Music:
           In Tune -- Wayfinder's "Hymn"
           Inside the Virtual Studio -- Buzz Tracker
           The Listener -- Music From Carlos, Necros and more
           Retro Tunage -- "Nightvision" by Sandman
        Demo:
           Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Sleepless" by Smash Designs
           Intro Watch -- Tac2 by Tazadum (Final Version)
           Intro Watch -- Mekka 2000 Intro Reviews
        General:
           Scene Dirt -- News & Rumors
           Call to Keyboards -- Demoparties Required
           Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene
     Closing:
           Credits

--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Wow, what a busy month!  I can't speak for everyone, but finals are
  almost over.  I took a break to throw this together for you all -- not
  that anyone can just THROW this together anymore.  It's getting big, is
  it not?  Nothing wrong with that.  Anyhow, this month's issue is a few
  days early because of finals.

     Good job spreading the word folks!  We have 14 new readers, bringing
  us  to a total of 126 readers.  Keep spreading the word, and sharing our
  issues.

     This month, we got a lot in here.  For one, Mekka just ended not too
  long ago, and we have a whole bunch of tidbits about that competition.
  We have an abridged form of the results, and a few demo reviews and song
  reviews related to it as well.

     Dilvish is back!  You didn't really think he'd stay away that long,
  did  you?  Well, it's not his Zen column, but he's providing us with
  tidbits  of information about the "Virtual Studio," this month, he
  covers Buzz  Tracker.

     We are growing quite nicely...but I wouldn't mind haveing a few more
  non-review columns in here.  Maybe a few interviewers, or something
  else?  If you're interested in joining staff, contact me.

             --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Letters From Our Readers
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Letter from Eggbird -=-
     Static line rules. but with this boost in size now that dj kinda
  cooled down a bit, why not change to bi-weekly instead of monthly?

                --Eggbird
                        egbert@teeselink.demon.nl

  -=> Reply from Coplan:
     It's funny that you should mention that.  With Static Line growing in
  size, that is definitely an option.  Static Line started as a Monthly
  Magazine so we could maintain both Quality and Content.  But, if Content
  has increased to this level, it is very possible that we may switch to a
  bi-weekly magazine.  What does everyone else think?

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Mekka & Symposium 2000 Results
     Abridged Version
  Prepared By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     The following results account for only the top three placements in
  each category of Mekka 2000.  For the general public, the complete
  listings are not necessarily that meaningful.  If you would like to view
  the complete results, they can be found at the following web address:

  http://ms.demo.org/2000/final-re.txt


  Wild
  1  Bitte 8 Bit                Hitmen
  2  Metro                      Tomac / Suburban
  3  Hau Strange                Haujobb


  SID Music
  1  Chaos 2000                 DJB & GRG
  2  Freak-Show                 Alien/WoW/Surprise Productions
  3  Logical                    Control/dIGITAL


  Progressive Music
  1  Morning Light              wayfinder
  2  The Joss Tune              phred
  3  Morning Star - remix       Netpoet / Park


  PlayStation Demo
  1  Strange Worlds             Haujobb
  2  Monophobia                 Witchcraft
  3  Mups - The Demo            Silvia, Soraya & Jan of Mups

  Pixel Gfx
  1  Jesus 2000                 Acryl/Scoopex,Haujobb
  2  Evil in me                 Raven/Nuance
  3  Deep Throat                Bifrost of Loonies


  PC Demo
  1  Sleepless                  Smash Designs
  2  Mikro Strange              Haujobb
  3  Nature Suxx                Federation Against Nature


  PC 64K Intro
  1  Heaven Seven               Exceed
  2  Matrix                     Addict
  3  Some bookprint
     and a broken heart         Replay


  PC 4K Intro
  1  Toasty                     Freestyle
  2  Meuk                       Ritz/Revolution
  3  SuperQuadric               KILLER/NEXTEMPIRE


  MP3 Music
  1  Brother In The Sky         Chromag / Haujobb
  2  Sommerparty                Virgill
  3  Record Royale              wayfinder

  Fast Intro
  1  Jobbsuche                  Pap & Skyrunner
  2  Da Krisch Plack            Thorax
  3  Haujobb=Jaujop             Fuzzion


  C64 Graphis
  1  Oppa Roxx                  Rayden/Breeze/Cyberpunx
  2  Rider                      JailBird/Tempest/Padua
  3  cyclone de l'interieur     Cyclone


  C64 Demo
  1  Deus Ex Machina            Crest
  2  +H2K                       Plush
  3  T4                         SDS


  C64 4K Intro
  1  +H4K                       Krill, Caprice, Fanta
  2  Matrix The Movie - Intro
     Cover                      Allitaice/SCS-TRC & Top Secret/WOW/Cult
  3  My Vision                  TUM


  Amiga Demo
  1  Cybercinematastic          Loonies
  2  Back to the roots          Haujobb
  3  First Awakening            Creative Minds


  Amiga 64K Intro
  1  Gift  [Gush2]              Potion
  2  Strange Distortion         Craid-Hellfire-SolarC-Roz
  3  Omnicrom                   Loaderror / Ephidrena


  Amiga 4K Intro
  1  Bier                       Loaderror/Ephidrena
  2  Wave 2000 %                Azure & Platon
  3  Art Of 4k                  Shape/DCS+Kure/RNO


  Alternative Music
  1  I've A Jazzy Feeling       BZZ (!FAKE! STOLEN FROM CARLOS/MANDULA)
  2  Break Down Baby            Chromag of Haujobb
  3  Nine Millimeter            Virgill


  Alternative Gfx
  1  Sakraler Monumentalbau     Shadow / Digital Overflow
  2  Hope Strange               Inferno / Haujobb
  3  Synthetic Heaven           JCS / Haujobb


  32K Game
  1  t32                        Myth
  2  Pong 32K                   Freestyle
  3  Duzzle Dobble              Mr. Van / Secretly


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  In Tune
    Wayfinder's "Hymn"
  By:  Coplan and Setec
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Introduction -=-
     Well, it's been a while, but I promised myself I would review
  Wayfinder's [somewhat] latest tune from Azure: "Hymn".  I was on #trax
  one  night, and I heard someone mention that a new group, Azure, was out
  there, so I went to check it out.  Low and behold, the first tune from
  the group was written by co-founder Wayfinder.  I've reviewed tunes from
  Wayfinder in the past, and so I decided to grab it.  Just happens that
  Setec also grabbed the tune, and we both like it.  So, Wayfinder is now
  one of the few people that has had more than one formal review in Static
  Line.  Hope no-one minds (trust me, you shouldn't).

  -=- Coplan -=-
     First let me look at the surface of the tune, before I get into the
  technical aspects of the entire trance peice.  I am not one that is very
  good at classifying music (just ask Setec how many times I called some
  of his music Trance when in fact it wasn't).  But, with the creation of
  Azure, I'm starting to at least understand a bit more about trance.

     What difference is it to me, I know that I like a lot of it, and
  "Hymn" by Wayfinder is no exception.

     I must say, this is another one of those songs that I feel I need to
  move to.  Maybe it's the static base drum beat in the background. In
  many cases, I don't like the "boom-boom-boom-boom-ba-boom" of the base
  drums in music that I listen to, but I have noticed that in a few songs
  it works very nicely.  This is one of them.  I've decided that it has a
  lot to do with the supporting music.  Listen to the base line -- it's
  easier to hear at the beginning of the song.  I think that's the key,
  the base line seems to add an additional depth to the song.

     Lets add more layers shall we?  What about all those acids in the
  background, and all those strings on occasion, and the rest of the
  percussion?  This song has quite a nice subtle mix of just about
  everything there, and Wayfinder has given a lot of attention to each.
  Don't let the base drum fool you, the percussion is actually quite well
  done.  It is simple things such as cutting the base drum out on
  occasion, and having ride cymbols pop in when we're at a peak moment in
  the song.  But, the boy knows how to take breaks when needed.  We can't
  have every moment in the song traveling with full-frontal-motion.  We
  gotta get some variety in there.

     Now, all that isn't enough for me to love the dynamics of a song.
  Mind  you, for me, I can have a lot of respect for the dymanics of a
  song, but  I don't necessarily like the song.  The same hold true the
  other way, I  may like a song, but that doesn't mean it's technically
  amazing.  This  song obviously demonstrates a bit more than tracking.
  After talking  with Wayfinder one night on #trax, I discovered that he
  sequenced all  the acids and the leads apart from the tracker.  It's a
  good thing I  talked to him, because I might just assume that he ripped
  his samples  from some existing song -- recording and clipping as
  necessary.  But  that's not the case.  And when I go back and listen to
  all his lead  samples, and his acid samples, there's no way he could've
  done the  method I had initially thought.  There was a great deal of
  time put into  the sequencing of those little blocks of audio bits.

     After talking to Dilvish and Setec a lot these days, I must say, this
  is  starting to become a not so uncommon method of creating tunes.  I am
  starting to sway that direction myself, simply because the quality is
  incredible compared to what I can do with a tracker alone.

     As I finish up, let me remind you that you should probably follow up
  on  some of the groups that you're buddies are affiliated with.  Azure
  has a  few new songs up there, including one from Tawan (a guest writer)
  titled  "Fantasy."  It is definately worth checking out.

                --Coplan

  -=- Setec -=-
     Wayfinder recently announced the founding of a new music group -
  Azure - entirely centered on making trance music. This piece, "Hymn", is
  the first release for the group and has been crafted by Wayfinder
  himself.

     I will try to make this review as based on techique as I can, since I
  really do not enjoy the style particularly. And techincally this is a
  marvelous piece. The sample quality and overall mixing is splendid and
  could well be a professionally mastered single of sorts.

     It starts off with your off-the-shelf standard four on four trance
  beat, only in this tune it actually sounds quite good. And naturally all
  of it is blended with a single bass on the upbeats. No news here. :)

     But then comes a really tasty distorted 303-like sound that lays
  neatly somewhere in the back of the mix. This transcends into a nice
  nifty chord progression that moves along quietly for a while until the
  wellknown machine gun snare hits and a no-drum section enters, with a
  quite nice progression and later on a REALLY great synth lead section
  with loads of good filtering. This of course brings back the percussion
  and bass and moves along with the 'chorus' of the track, being that
  previously mentioned chord progression and synth lead.

     Then all of the sudden it breaks into a drums only part that slowly
  brings back that distorted 303 riff and later on the chords once more. I
  kinda felt like the whole thing basically just repeated at this point. I
  would've really liked to have seen some more flavour added to this
  second time around. Like a layered beat on top, more sounds, whatever.
  Something to distinguish the second time from the first.

     The track goes into the main chorus part again, with no further
  change in anything but the time it is played in. This continues for a
  while and then breaks into only drums and bass once more, slowly fading
  out and then climbing into a final cymbal hit.

     This is a really hard piece for me to comment on, because I can truly
  enjoy the techique and admire the overall sound of the piece. On the
  other hand, it is just plain too dull for my liking. The chord
  progression used is good, the synth lead is awesome, it is not that. It
  is just that it does not alter at all throughout the piece. I am not
  sure if this is just what trance is all about and whether I am just
  being an arse. I just don't enjoy it after a few listens. More spice,
  Wayfinder. Add a b-part to keep the attention of the listener for more
  than one go at the main part. As it is now it is like a two minute track
  repeated two times. Well-crafted, extraordinarily mixed, but a tad too
  dull ...

     It is still worth a download though. Especially if you usually dig
  trance ...I am actually looking forward to the next release by Azure.

                --Setec

  Song Information:
     Title:  Hymn
     Author:  Wayfinder
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  az-01.zip / az-01.it (IT 2.14)
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  3.4 MB / 3.8 MB
     Source:  http://azure.zerion.com
        Alternate:  http://ic.l7.net/statline/current.html

     "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and
  singular works by fellow trackers.  It is to be used as a tool to expand
  your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general
  rating system.  Coplan's and Setec's opinions are not the opinions of
  the Static Line Staff.

     If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own,
  or another person's), We can be contacted through e-mail useing the
  addresses found in the closing notes.  Please do not send files attached
  to e-mail without first contacting us.  Thank you!


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Inside the Virtual Studio
     Buzz Tracker
  By:  Dilvish
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Things are looking good these days for the digital music makers.
  There are several advanced trackers in the works, a selection of virtual
  recording studios, plug-ins galore, real-time software synthesizers,
  very high quality i/o hardware, and even a new operating system that
  looks ideal for music production.  In my next few articles, I'll take a
  look at some of the new software that might be of interest to digital
  music makers, and share my impressions with you.  From there, I'll give
  my predictions on the directions of digital music production, and share
  tips, techniques, and the secrets of the pros, ranging from advice about
  the latest gear, to ideas that might help you make your digital
  arrangements sound more realistic, and expressive.  I hope you enjoy it.

     Since a lot of readers are familiar and comfortable with the tracker
  style interface, I'll start off with a look at some of the new trackers.
  In this issue, I'll take a look at the modern pioneer of tracking,
  Oskari Tammelin's Buzz Tracker digital composer.   Tracking technology
  has changed a bit over the last few years.  We've gone from 4 channel
  forced hard panning with 8 bit samples to 64+ channels of 16 bit samples
  with panning envelopes and NNA's.  So what could be next?

     If you haven't seen Buzz, you're missing an important step in the
  evolution of the tracker, and what looks like a merger between the
  familiar realm of tracking, and the new world of the virtual recording
  studio.

     Buzz combines familiar pattern based editing with virtual instruments
  and effects.  Machines that you can plug together with cables, just like
  in a real studio environment.  Many people are developing machines for
  Buzz, and the best part is, both Buzz, and the majority of it's machines
  are freely available for download.

     Unfortunately, in my opinion the interface suffers from a lack of
  experience, and is counter-intuitive for many users.  I personally found
  that while I enjoy having a tracker interface to work with, the
  shortcomings, especially the limited transport controls, detract from my
  creativity.

     It would be really nice if there was better support for MIDI
  connectivity, and an intelligent audio/midi routing system.  Also
  missing is a graphical channel mixer.  It would be nice to use those
  nice Buzz effects as channel inserts, or auxiliary devices.  It could
  save us a bit of CPU power, and give us better control over the final
  sound at the same time.

     While Buzz makes no claim at being a virtual recording studio (it
  calls itself a digital composer), it is already well on it's way, and it
  would sure be nice if users had the option of recording, mixing, and
  sequencing an entire composition using nothing but Buzz itself.

     Of course, many users have jumped these hurtles without a hitch, and
  swear by Buzz as the *only* tracker worth using.  So what's my opinion?
  If you haven't seen it, GET IT.  It's free, innovative, and so far, the
  very deffinition of the new tracker generation.

     That all sounds great, so are the real down sides?  As a tracker, the
  interface falls a bit short of what most of us are accustomed to.  I
  miss the alt+arrow key combinations for jumping from one track to the
  next, transport controls and key combinations for playing *only* the
  current pattern (though you can solo the current machine with CTRL-L, I
  prefer the looping pattern playback that other trackers provide), play
  from current position, skip forward/skip back, etc...  Another thing I'd
  like to do is edit multiple patterns side-by-side.  A bass generator
  track next to my drum kit, for example.

     The pattern sequencer has similar flaws in the transport controls, as
  well as being a fairly big pain to work with - few users will understand
  what to do here without first consulting the documentation.  Before you
  can do anything in the sequencer, you have to hit CTRL-Enter and select
  a machine.  There is no visible documentation on the screen indicating
  that you need to do this, so first time users (if they're like me and
  avoid documentation until they've played with something for a while and
  can't figure it out) will be at a total loss here.

     Once you do bring up the instrument selection, you'll see a list of
  the machines that you've created patterns for.  While you can use your
  mouse to highlight a machine, double clicking does not select it.  You
  have to press Enter here.  That done, a list of available patterns
  appears on the right side of the screen.  You can give each pattern a
  descriptive name, which is nice, but as far as I can tell, the only way
  to audition the pattern is to put it in your sequence list, and press
  play.

     While you can use your mouse to set the song position, and press
  play, as far is I can tell, there's no keyboard command to play from the
  current position.  Fortunately, there are some neat features that almost
  make up for the drawbacks here.  For example, you can select a pattern,
  and set start and end points to loop the pattern.  If you use variable
  pattern sizes, it wouldn't be hard to create some interesting cyclic
  effects using this feature.  Duplicating that effect would be
  considerably more difficult in trackers like IT and FT2, requiring
  considerable work if you want to do something as simple as to offset
  your bassline cycle a little bit.. you would have to manually edit every
  pattern involved.  If you could set BPM and TPB for each individual
  pattern, you'd really have a lot of freedom to experiment!

     You can, however, change BPM during the course of the song, by
  editing Master patterns.  These patterns control mix & pan values for
  your various instruments and effect returns, much like a real mixer -
  however, they don't give you any aditional EQ or dynamics control, and,
  of course, it's the tracker interface - no way to set level sliders or
  knobs or record mixer automation -- yet... creating smooth fades and
  changes will take a lot of work and dedication for now.  Thankfully,
  there is a feature that allows you to interpolate between selected
  values.  What this means is that you can select a volume row, set the
  start value, and the end value, hit CTRL-I, and have all the values in
  between filled in for you.  The only problem with that is that it is
  strictly linear.  It would be nice if we could adjust a curve shape, or
  even set a follow path graphically.  However, I have a feeling that this
  feature is just a hint of the potential power Buzz has to offer.

     The Wavetable editor is not immune to interface problems... sample
  browsing could be simplified greatly if it was easier to set keyboard
  focus where you want it to be.  I know I personally prefer to keep my
  hands on the keyboard at all times, if I can help it, using the mouse
  for things that the mouse is good at, like editing envelopes, or
  tweaking volumes or cut-off filters in a realtime preview mode.  The
  Wavetable loader has trouble with many common sample formats, including
  many forms of .WAV files, so I hope you have a sample converter handy.
  It seems to handle most of my .XI files without too much trouble, but it
  is obvious here that Buzz tracker is still a young program with a long
  way to go.

     My favorite feature of the Wavetable is the ADSR editor.  This by
  itself is almost enough to make up for the shortcomings.  Along with
  allowing you to draw your own envelopes, the ADSR editor allows you to
  select betwen linear and logarithmic control over each parameter, as
  well as set the resolution (the number of points between one parameter
  and the next).  Now if only we could assign those nice envelopes to
  effect parameters from the machine list...

     What really sets Buzz tracker apart from the rest of the crowd is the
  machine setup screen.  Here, you can choose from a variety of software
  synths and effects processors, among which the sample tracker is only
  one.  There are many machine developers with their own homes on the web,
  offering buzz machines free to download... some of them better than
  others, but most of them worth at least checking out.  As a matter of
  fact, Buzz has enough software synths available that you can create
  whole songs without ever using a single sample.  Many people do just
  that, and it sounds really good.  The flexibility in machine routing is
  really nice, allowing you to create all kinds of wild effects - Buzz
  makes a terrific techno composer just for this reason.

     In short, Buzz tracker gets my compliments for it's many innovations,
  flexibility, and power, but it never fails to leave me feeling like
  there is much missing.  I'm sure that as it continues to evolve, that
  feeling will begin to fade, but for now, it's frustrating enough to send
  me back to Impulse tracker for most of my tracking work.

     On the other hand, Buzz is a very powerful program that allows to you
  create soundscapes you can only dream about in other trackers.  If you
  haven't tried it out, I urge you to at least download it - play with it
  for a few days.. compose a few songs in it.  Kick the tires.  Many
  people do this, and never look back.  Maybe you'll be one of them.

     Buzz 1.2 is slated to be released shortly, and it looks like it will
  add a host of new features, so chances are, a few of my current
  complaints will no longer be issues in a short while.  Slated features
  include, among other things, presets, templates, better help files, and
  new icons.

     If you have any questions, tips & tricks, or advice on using Buzz,
  feel free to mail them to me at dilvie@yahoo.com.  I'll try to answer
  any questions, as well as post your tips in upcoming articles.

     That's it for now.  You can find more info about Buzz at the
  following URLs:

     http://www.buzz2.com/
     http://www.buzztrack.com/

                --Dilvish


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The Listener
    Music from Carlos, Necros and more
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- "Giants steps" musicdisk -=-
  -=-                -- Carlos -=-

    Music by Carlos is like a water. You would expect that it will flow
  down only, but as you get to rapids it jumps up and down and it is so
  living that you have to do your best to hold on and not to drown.

    His new musicdisk again features what came out during the time since
  the "first beep musicdisk" and it is again a lot jazzy. As I said,
  Hungarians have sometimes very wild music and weird mood changes, and
  for some people it is so incomprehensible, that they just can't get over
  it. If you don't mind this wild style of changes, you may find out that
  this musicdisk contains some very good tracks like "Autumn", which is is
  a sequel to "Streets of Budapest" and appears on the disk as the intro
  song. "Autumn" naturally follows the original song, keeps the same
  theme, main difference between the tracks is, that "Autumn" is much
  calmer,  it follows the same melody with almost same instruments, but in
  completely different way which makes it interesting even for people who
  know the  original (it also appears on the disk). That's a sign of good
  musician.

    As the tracks go, style of the music changes many times, sometimes
  it's pure club jazz, sometimes it moves to funk and other styles and you
  won't probably like all the tracks. But it sounds so real and living
  that you  can turn it on and imagine that you're sitting in some caffe
  restaurant where Donau is beneath you. If you like jazz and missed some
  of the tracks by Carlos, I recommend it to you.

  Song Information:
    Title:  Giant Steps
    Author:  Carlos / Jecoute
    Release date:  march 2000
    Length:  47m44s
    Filename (zipped/unzipped):  giant.zip / many files
    File Size (zipped/unzipped):  8.5 mb / 17.5 kb
    Source:  http://jecoute.cjb.net


  -=- "Ubik"                   -=-
  -=-      -- alpha conspiracy -=-

    It's not usual to write about track from one artist in two
  consecutive issues of any diskmag, but I just couldn't help myself,
  because this track is so good.

    Necros says that this track is an attempt to produce a track that
  would mix sound of garage groups and electronica. Once it starts, it
  sounds like a normal melodic, half ambient, repetitive electronic  track
  with a bit guitarish sound. But then comes the percussion with  room
  reverb and gives the track whole new, heavier sound, which is  brighted
  by the background fsol-like sounds. Drumline is quite simple  and played
  mostly on lowfreq percs which help to keep that heavy sound  in
  combination with other light sounding instruments. Through the whole
  track goes one theme with small pauses only. This also helps to keep up
  that garage group feeling and gives more space for mixing skills of
  andy.

    When I've listened to it for the third time, it also reminded me on
  Zodiac, who's tracks also have that mix of garage group sound and scene
  alternative trax. Still, among those two attempts is a big difference
  that can't be easily described and has to be heard.

  Song Information:
    Title:  Ubik
    Author:  Alpha conspiracy
    Release date:  april 2000
    Length:  4m13s
    Filename:  ubik.mp3
    File Size:  4 mb
    Source:  http://www.alphaconspiracy.com


  -=- Other interesting tracks: -=-

    First "Park" release is a "melancholic EP" which features 4 tracks
  by amove&velvet, falcon and netpoet. It is a slow and melancholic music
  for lazy afternoon. It has a bit triphop sound, mostly be the alternative
  background sounds. Soft and nice.
  park.planet-d.net | park_allstars_-_melancholik_ep.zip | 3mb | april 2000

    Also be sure to grab hq version of falcon's tracks "french connection",
  an excellent mix of triphop, orchestral music and jazz. It has been
  released through "Aural Planet".
  www.auralplanet.com | Aural Planet - French Connection | 7.235mb | 2000

     "Live is fatal" by Wayfinder is one of the current four releases
  (4/4/00) of a new group "Azure" which concentrates on making good trance
  music. I have to say that Wayfinder is one of the few trance-making
  musicians whom i respect and his latest azure releases only prove that he
  is the best. If you're interested on tracking technique, check out "hymn"
  (1st release) pattern 36 which contains a part of the original lead
  sequence that has been saved into wav and then loaded again.
  azure.zerion.com | Az-02.mp3 | 5887 kb | 5m00s

    "virtuel kaleidoskope" is level-d's excellent multipurpose disk which
  features 17 tracks (however some of them were released before), 19 drawings
  and some poems by ps. I would define style of this musicdisk as sweet
  melancholic. Unfortunatelly some of the tracks/pictures are too sweet even
  for me. Anyway there are also some really good pieces, so best way is to
  grab tracks/pictures by your favourite musician/graphician.
  vk.planet-d.net | 22.305 mb all files packed | april 2000

                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Retro Tunage
    "Nightvision" by Sandman
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     I wanted to write a retro about a track by a person who wasn't member
  of FM or FC and Coplan came with idea of this song by Sandman.

     Alexander Brandon aka Siren aka Sandman didn't appear in fm, but we
  can say that he was a student of necros and he is also member of
  Straylight, a commercial group which made music for games like Crusader
  or Unreal. Other members of this group were necros, basehead (still
  active) and leviathan if i remember it correctly. From this company
  comes also his imho biggest success - game Unreal, where he cooperated
  with Michiel Van Den Bos. Unreal was that large project, that some of
  the scene releases had to appear in it and this song belongs among the
  few elite.

     Originaly it was released in 1996 as KFMF track and soon a package
  with demostyle videoclip followed.

     It opens with rhythmicaly very strong part with very bold percussion.
  As the song goes, alex adds background sounds and lets them slowly take
  over the song. Final state is almost ambient and this part also contains
  the strongest theme of the lead. Both parts alternate in the song and
  that is a strong technique - you get the rhythm, then you slowdown and
  listen to a good melody and than you get again the tempo and run again.
  It sounds that you won't have too much rest, but siren gives simpler
  drumline into the beginning of each part and that produces effect of
  half tempo, so you have enough time to adapt your hearbeat and song
  sounds more smooth. (That reminds me on recent song by moloko, where she
  cuts from loud part and in the next silent sequence she fades in
  bassdrum which hits perfectly like the heartbeat and then song continues
  - very impressive technique).

     You may easily find out that alex is very good musician with sense for
  mood changes, extremely good leads and very good work with tempo. He
  also belongs among those musicians who release only a small part of
  their work and so you get to high quality tunes only and you can be sure
  that you don't get any crap. If you like this song, get also his other
  releases (mostly kfmf) and be sure to get his oracle musicdisk (juni
  production - coop with Sirus). It can be found at scene.org in musicdisk
  section, I think.


  Song Information:
    Title:  Nightvision
    Author:  Sandman (Siren) / KFMF
    Release date:  dec 1996
    Length:  3m41s
    Filename (zipped/unzipped):  ktv_1296.zip / k_vision.s3m
    File Size (zipped/unzipped):  505 kb / 575 kb
    Source:  www.kosmic.org -> 1996 releases

                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Screen Lit Vertigo
    'Sleepless' by Smash Designs (party-version)
  By:  Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Found at ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/ms2000/demos
  1st place at Mekka & Symposium 2000

  System requirements:
     8.2 MB HD, no mentions about CPU-power or RAM (guess: Pentium MMX &
  64MB)  Indoor Demo & Music System used, so most sound & vidcards
  supported.

  Test Machine: PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0)

  The demo:
     Aha! Just as I'm trying to buy a 3D-card ("You need a 3D-card that
  still supports AGP 1.0 ? I'm not sure ... <silence>"), Smash Designs
  brings us a demo with the message "Software-rendering still rocks!" And
  I can only agree :).  Last year Smash Designs won MS2000 with Event
  Horizon, and now they do it again  with Sleepless, a demo based on the
  same (improved) engines. So this is again  a heavy 3D DOS-demo, viewable
  in every possible resolution and color depth,  including the weird ASCII
  & C64 modes.

  Warning: Sleepless is about 50% story, and the review contains spoilers.
     So  you may want to watch it first and read the review later.

     The opening sequence looks like that of a cheap horror-movie: we move
  through a forest of bare trees, at night under the full moon, with the
  outline and the windows of an old mansion visible in the distance. The
  credits are shown while some typical slow, dark movie-music plays, with
  violins and cymbals going crescendo. It feels a bit cliche, but it gets
  you in the mood. Next we see a room inside the mansion, filled with
  antique furniture and a fireplace, and a man in a black suit, reading
  an ancient book. With a sudden crash, one of the windows is blown open,
  even though it is a push-up window. The man closes it,  but then more
  strange things start to happen: the pendulum starts to turn  backwards,
  the books of the library fly away from the shelves, and at the end  the
  man is floating around too.

     Here the story-based 3D sequence is abandoned for more normal
  demo-effects: bump-mapped tunnels with a morphing blob, a phong-shaded
  hand under an invisible spotlight, casting animal-like shadows on the
  wall, and a tree with visible rays of light, again casting a shadow.
  Also the music changes from a "movie-soundtrack + sound-FX" to a
  happier demo-tune.

  For the non-coders:
     Shadows are much harder to calculate than illumination like phong or
  gouraud shading. That is because not only do you have to check every
  poly against every lightsource (N*M operations), but you also have to
  check if there is another poly between them (N*N*M operation). But you
  can "fake" shadows by not letting objects cast shadows on themselves,
  only on a background. That way you can draw the objects as usual, and
  you need to calculate the shadows only when drawing the background.
  These "half-shadows" are the ones used here.

     The screen stays black for some seconds while the next part is
  loaded. It's a new 3D-sequence, of a girl in a modern apartment, waking
  up and opening the curtains. There are some nice faked light-effects,
  like the LEDS of the alarm clock and the sun shining through the
  curtains. The girl is dressed in underwear only, what else did you
  expect in a demo? When she looks in a large  mirror, she notices that
  the sheets on the bed in the mirror float in the air, while those in
  the real world are still lying on the bed. So the mirror-world differs
  from the real world, and she walks through the mirror, into outer space
  between the start, the sun and the earth. Quite psychedelic, he?

     We zoom in on the Earth, which is rather ugly textured. There's a
  cross-fade into a voxel-scape of islands with changing level-of-detail:
  the voxels closer to the camera are more detailed then those at the
  horizon. The bad side is that the edge between maximum and lesser
  detail is quite visible. Also an ugly peak is visible at the corner
  where the height-map wraps around. After another cross-fade the girl is
  sitting in a rowing boat on the sea. The movements of the boat and the
  waves are fairly realistic.

     After some more loading (black screen! boo!) the last part comes up:
  the  interior of a 3D temple, where the man & the girl meet each other.
  The contrast  made me laugh: the man with red tie, white shirt and sharp
  black suit, the girl  in her 2-piece underwear. Very demo-style, yes :).
  They are holding hands while  several colored particle-streams rotate
  around them, a la Tribes. Then we zoom  out of a TV-set showing these
  images, into the apartment of the girl that's  watching the TV. Again
  this gives me a deja-vu (Moai/Nomad, f.e.)

  Overall:
     Sleepless is a story-based 3D-demo, so some people will find it boring
  after watching it once. That's a matter of taste. But nobody can deny
  that this demo is very good technically. The 3D engine is very advanced
  and pretty fast. It runs still smooth in 512*384, only in 640*400 some
  parts start to slow down.  OK, all the 3D freaks with their GE-force
  cards are now laughing, but not everyone has a 3D-card (yet :)).  About
  the models: Smash Designs choose to use human characters, which are of
  course more interesting then static objects or camera rides through
  empty rooms, but they are also far more difficult to animate realistic.
  I think they did it above average, although it's clearly no
  motion-captured quality. The main bad point are the motionless faces,
  it's hard to feel anything for a character with the emotional
  expression of a stone. I think that's the next step, animated faces
  will make demos a good deal more realistic then better skeleton-based
  animation. The soundtrack is an important factor in the atmosphere of
  this demo. Especially in the 3D-sequences when there is no music, the
  sound of footsteps, the wind and the cracks of the fire really push you
  into the right feeling. Apart from the symphonic intro, the tunes are
  normal demo music with synths,  drums, bells and the like, and a good
  rhythm/melody mix. The only thing I missed were pictures. There are
  some small pictures of OK quality, but the two 5-second breaks during
  the loading of the next part would  have been a perfect occasion to show
  a full-screen image. Overall Sleepless is a very enjoyable demo, well
  worth the 7.7 MB download.

                --Seven


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Intro Watch
    Tac2 by Tazadum (Final Version)
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  64k intro
  winner at Trax 2000 (Sweden)

  Download:
     ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/2000/trax2000/in64/taz_tac2-refinal2.zip

  Requirements:
     - MMX
     - 64 Mb RAM
     - Windows 95 or newer
     - DirectX: 640x480, 24 or 32 bits/pixel mode

  Credits:
     Demol - programming
     Zeal - programming
     Claw - programming
     Sombie - graphics
     Steffo - music

  The previous release of Tazadum was 'Fiesta Mexicana' (Dreamhack 1999).
  That is an average one; the code is not bad, but the intro itself is
  quite ugly, to be honest. After that one this intro was a surprise, at
  least for me.

     TAC 2 is a very fine intro. Every little detail is fine-tuned. The
  music is a good chiptune-like song. The video is kept together with it
  very neatly. One specific style follows through the whole intro: high
  resolution with a movie type wide screen, flat shaded 3d objects,
  randomly fading horizontal lines and fine colors fitting each other.
  There is a small poem going on line by line.

     There are a lot of effects, including rather complex ones, too, like
  raytracing or 3d morphing. Still, the intro does not look just simply
  like a sequence of effects - the music and the design connects them very
  well.

     TAC 2 does not show revolutionary ideas, but it is very beautiful in
  every aspect. This is the way an intro should look like in 2000.

                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Intro Watch
    Mekka 2000 Intro Reviews
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     Mekka 2000 party (Germany) was held in 21-24th April 2000 - in two
  weeks' time. Here is a quick review on the intro releases. These are
  based on my very first impressions; it can happen that I could not get
  something for the first few times I watched them. The order of the
  intros reflect my own opinion.

     I tried to find out the nationalities of the authors, too, although I
  was unsure in some cases. These intros were made in various places of
  the world; from this it is obvious that Mekka 2000 was not just a
  local German party at all.

  Download:
     ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/party/2000/MEKKASYMPOSIUM2000/...


  -=- 64kb intro competition -=-
  Heaven 7
     by Exceed (Hungary)
     result at Mekka 2000: 1/9 (winner)
  req: DOS, GUS + Windows version

     'Heaven 7' is an amazing intro. The number 7 in the title is an
  allusion to the famous intro 'Bakkslide 7', which, as they state, gave
  much inspiration to the authors. Still, 'Heaven Seven' is completely
  different. A nice tune gives the background, while there is a poem being
  shown line by line. The whole screen is in a constant movement; the
  effects and the lines of the poem continually zoom and fade. There are
  very spectacular effects, most of them are particles or raytracing -
  with Picard's extreamly fast engine. The two most impressive ones are
  the opening part, where a human figure made up of particles is running
  in the light; and a raytracing effect, a kind of morphing fractal made
  up of spheres. There are several annoying grammar mistakes in the poem,
  which substract much of the pathos of the production; I hope these will
  be corrected in the final version.


  Plainwork
     by Unik (Germany)
     result at Mekka 2000: 8/9
  req: Windows 95, DirectX

     This is a very fine intro. The design is similar to Whisker's intros;
  everything is minimal: flat shaded objects, plain squares, and so on.
  Neither of the effects are original, but all are beautiful; the colors
  are in order, too. A-move wrote a fine song which fits in the intro
  well.


  Some bookprint and a broken heart
     by Replay (Sweden)
     result at Mekka 2000: 3/9
  req: Windows 95, DirectX

     This is another intro by Whisker; very minimal: white background with
  a few flat shaded 3d objects. Besides these there is a kind of
  caleidoscope effect. In the centre of the intro there is a poem. This is
  meaningful - deep, I would say; unlike the previous Replay intros. It is
  about loss of love and misunderstanding.


  Boys
     by Funktion (Sweden)
     result at Mekka 2000: 4/9
  req: Windows 95, DirectX

     Yet another intro by Whisker, 'Boys' has hardly any connection to its
  title. It has a minimalist style; there are flat shaded 3d objects,
  circles, and similar effects. The tune is typical of Chavez, with heavy
  bass drums. These together make a good intro.


  Genesis
     by Magic Dreams (Germany)
     result at Mekka 2000: 5/9
  req: Windows 95, DirectX 7 (3d video card)

     The code is fine; there is a quite good 3d engine with additional
  effects like shadows and reflection. There are many 3d scenes, although
  there is no story or any connection among them. The textures are
  beautiful; there are no still pictures. The music is not bad, but it is
  nothing special.


  Matrix
     by Agravedict (Poland)
     result at Mekka 2000: 2/9
  req: DOS only, SB

     This intro is about some silly thoughts on the film 'Matrix'. The
  music is a 'demotune'; not bad, but it is very repetitive and gets
  boring after a time. There is a raytracer, a rather complex 3d engine
  and transparent light spots. The code is quite good, but the design is
  not. The colors are weird. The green color of the letters does not fit
  anything else in the intro.


  Falco - The Space Runner
     by Cryogen (Poland)
     result at Mekka 2000: 9/9
  req: DOS, GUS + Windows version

     I felt (although I may be wrong) that it is a typical 'wanna-be-Jizz'
  intro. The effects, the music and the design indicate this. The music is
  a 'psychadelic trance chiptune' - probably the case is that the coders
  had no software synthetiser but the musician was expected to make a
  'Jizz'-like song in a few kilobytes. The intro is very colorful (too
  colorful, in fact); this is due to the generated textures. There are
  several bitmap effects and environment-mapped 3d objects. The intro has
  a kind of theme, as the name suggests, but it is not really clear for
  me. There is a flying spaceship and a still picture of a robot; I could
  not make up anything sensible from these. All in all, this intro is not
  really coherent and lacks style; but the code is rather good. It is not
  a bad intro.


  Butterbestellen
     by Tum and Colorfast (Germany)
     result at Mekka 2000: 6/9
  req: Windows 95, DirectX, OpenGL (3d video card)

     It is a 3d effect intro, without any story or theme. The graphics and
  the music are mediocre. The design is weak, the colors are strange and
  do not fit each other. It kept flickering - but it can happen that it is
  just my machine's fault. Still there are a few good or above-average
  effects, for example a morphing cylinder. I think that the authors are
  new to the scene; if this is the case then this intro was a good start.


  Destination: nowhere
     by INTerror (Poland)
     result at Mekka 2000: 7/9
  req: 32 MB RAM, DOS only, GUS or SB

     It is a typical intro. In my opinion the musician attempts to copy
  Jizz. The design is terrible. The colors are almost random. There is one
  still picture of a man holding a bottle - it is ugly and does not fit
  into the intro. The code is rather good. There are mountains and rivers
  in the 3d scenes; although they look very artificial. There are the
  usual effects like transparent light spots. In the last effect the
  screen is tiled up and all the previous effects are shown in the little
  tiles. It is not bad, but it reminds me to Boost 2 by Doomsday.


                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Scene Dirt
    News & Rumors
  By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     As per recomendation of Psychic Symphony/Demojournal, I am going to
  include tidbits from his news breifs in this section in addition to
  other sorts of news that I dig up.  So, to many of you who read both
  mags, some of this might not be news.  =)


  -=- First issue of Planet Chartsmag -=-
     First issue of Planet Chartsmag is out. Find it at
  ftp://amber.bti.pl/incoming/ also soon on scene.org or direct from
  http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/

  -=- Arf!Studios News Server -=-
     Arf!studios has created a news server to cut back on the spam
  happening with the big associates discussions on the mailing list:
  http://news.arfstudios.org
  http://www.arfstudios.org

  -=- Song Rip at Mekka 2000 -=-
     A person, so-called BZZ (e-mail address zbatky@apcc.com) stole a song
  by the famous Hungarian scener jazz musician Carlos/Mandula. This song
  was the soundtrack of the Rage 1998 winner demo Dis. This person entered
  the tune under his own name to the alternative music competition of
  Mekka 2000 (jazzy.zip). The organizers did not realize this cheating. To
  make things even more complicated, Carlos also entered his new song
  there, 'Autumn in Budapest' (autumn.zip; read review by Tryhuk in this
  issue). This song ranked 10th while the other won!

  -=- Hornet Is Back -=-
     Last month, Hornet Archive appeared to have lost its Domain.  But,
  have no fear, for those of you still useing their wonderful search
  engine to search through oldskool works, the Hornet Archive is back
  online under it's old Domain.  (Thank God this section is News _and_
  Rumors)

                --Coplan


  Scene Dirt is a semi-regular column offering the latest tidbits of
  information to its readers.  If you have any bits of information that
  you think should be here, contact coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com) and offer
  as much information as possible.


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Call to Keyboards
    Wrapup:  The Fall of Another Great SceneMag
    New Topic:  Demoparties Required
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Wrap Up: The Fall of Another Great SceneMag -=-

  Eino Keskitalo's Reply:
  >    Someone asked me the other day "when was the last time I released a
  > tune."  So I jumped on my FTP server and checked:  October 1999.  In
  > fact, I only released four songs in 1999.  That is way below average,
  > i'm sure.  So, then the person in-turn asked why I don't make any
  > effort to promote the scene.  So, I explained that I publish Static
  > Line, and he responded:  "Since when was a magazine contribution?"

     If you put it that way, the only sensible answer is: A monthly
  newsletter of quality is sooo much more a contribution than an average
  unheard tune lost in the depths of Trax in space or Mod Archive.

     ASCII textfile is the least discriminating scene product in regards
  of for example, processing power or equipment.

                --Eino Keskitalo
                   eino.keskitalo@purkki.mbnet.fi


  Seven's Reply:
     Hi, Seven's keyboard again: As a writer for Static line and the former
  version of DemoJournal, I can assure you that a diskmag DEFINITELY is a
  contribution to the demoscene <Grin>. The point I wanted to make: diskmags
  are not just a mean of communication, they are also archives of the
  demo-scene history.

     My first contact with the scene was via the "PC underground" book,
  which came with a CD with demos and one issue of Imphobia. The demos
  blew me away, but reading Imphobia 7 really showed me the community of
  sceners behind the demos. When I got the Hornet CD, I read all 122
  issues of DemoNews on it, and that way I learned the major trends and
  events that happened years before. For example, everyone knows that
  Future Crew made the fantastic Second Reality demo, that won Assembly
  93. But how many people know that Future Crew, as the PC organizers of
  Assembly'93, changed the compo-machine to a more powerful CPU,
  presumably because Second Reality needed it? And that there was aproblem
  with the SoundBlaster Pro, playing only in mono, except for the last
  demo (Second Reality) which used a lot of stereo effects? I know that
  articles are not always 100% true, so you have to be careful about what
  you believe, but now I understand why some people think so negatively
  about Future Crew.  For a newbie, this kind of knowledge is near to
  impossible to get just by reading newsgroups or chatting on IRC. The
  only way is to read old diskmags, something that I encourage everyone to
  do :)  Seven out.

                --Seven
                   Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be


  -=- New Topic:  Demoparties Required -=-
     Don't jump to conclusions, I'm not debating about the existance of
  Demoparties.  However, I'm debating the reasons for attendance.  I guess
  this time, CTK is a bit of a personal exploration.

     I have never been to a demoparty.  Never!

     I have also never heard anyone complain about me never attending.  I
  am hoping that one day, I will attend one (*Cough* Coma people, decide
  on a date, please).  But I guess the question is -- what am I (or any
  other person) missing?

     Again, i'm not questioning the existance of such.  And I'm sure it's
  a good time.  But what I want people to do with this month's CTK is to
  fill everyone in on why YOU like to go to demoparties.  Do you have fun?
  Were you dissapointed?  Do you attend them regularly because you can't
  get enough?  Are they essential to the personal understanding of The
  Scene?  Why or why not?

     Okay, a short topic, but I'm curious.  I'm sure many others are as
  well.

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Link List
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Featured Site:  Demonews Express
                  http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
  Writeup By:     Coplan

  This is a pretty cool little site I happened upon the other day.
  Essentially, the site is nothing but a customizable frame that allows
  you to define your own links within a pull-down menu.  It will then
  display the selected site in the lower frame.

  It can be used for almost anything, but since the default settings are
  for Scene News sites, we'll mention it.  =)


  Featured Site:  Goodstuff
                  http://www.artloop.de/goodstuff
  Writeup By:     Tryhuk

    "Goodstuff" is a site, which seeks out good songs. Sometimes, even
  every day, you can find there a link and comments on a new tune and
  because the songs are selected by a-move, andromeda, jazz, kenny
  beltrey, netpoet, velvet, argus and xenon, you can be sure that you'll
  find here only a good stuff. Go now.


  Featured Site:  Noerror
                  http://www.error-404.com/noerror/
  Writeup By:     Tryhuk

    "Noerror" is a new site with most fresh music news. Must visit for
  every scene music lover.


  Featured Site:  Fabtrax
                  http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm
  Writeup By:     Tryhuk

    "fabtrax" doesn't care necessarily about most fresh releases, but it
  contains reviews of all time legends, links and info. Needs a lot of
  work  to be done, but it looks good and if you're new to the scene, it
  is surely interesting place to visit.


  Featured Site:  Music Massage
                  http://www.scene.cz/massage
  Writeup By:     Tryhuk

    "Massage" is a "module review show" which features every 2 weeks eight
  carefully selected non-mp3 tracks. Here's a part of manifesto:

      "To spread good music. that's my goal.  I'm trying to support you,
       the listeners, with high quality modules.  It's simple.  I give
       you the latest productions as well as oldskool mods.  But it's top
       class music, no boring shit.  I'm searching through the net.  Well
       known labels as well as new stars."

  I think that after seeing/hearing 8 issues i can say that adamm has a good
  taste and I can recommend this magazine to people who are interested also
  in music labels like CBR, Kyoto republic, Rebound and other.


  Groups:

      3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net
      Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com
      Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain
      Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl
      Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl
      ANDESA Soft International..................http://andesa.da.ru
      Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com
      Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com
      AtomiK....................................http://atomik.ini.hu
      Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net
      BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net
      Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk
      Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org
      Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org
      Chrome..............................http://chrome.scene-hu.com
      CoPro.....................................http://www.copro.org
      Damage...................................http://come.to/damage
      Dance...................................http://dance.flipp.net
      Defacto 2..............................http://www.defacto2.net
      Dolops......................... ........http://dolOps.scene.hu
      Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed
      Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org
      GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods
      Green.....................................http://green.dyns.cx
      Grif........................http://arrabonet.gyor.hu/~rattgrif
      Haujobb......................................http://haujobb.de
      Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl
      IJSKAST.............................http://www.ijskast.cjb.net
      Immortals..............................http://imrt.home.ml.org
      Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org
      Just For Fun...........................http://jff.planet-d.net
      Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net
      Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor
      Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com
      Label zero.........................http://labelzero.pganet.com
      Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula
      Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar
      Nextempire..................http://members.xoom.com/NEXTEMPIRE
      Ninja Gefilus.........http://www.angelfire.com/or/ninjagefilus
      Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org
      Orion..............................http://orion.arfstudios.org
      Quad........................................http://www.quad.nl
      Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu
      Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay
      Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net
      Rhyme................................http://rhyme.scene-hu.com
      Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org
      Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl
      Suspend......................http://www.optimus.wroc.pl/rappid
      Tehdas...................................http://come.to/tehdas
      Tesko..........................http://www.scentral.demon.co.uk
      The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org
      The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net
      The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no
      TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com
      Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma
      T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org
      Unik.....................................http://www.unik.ca.tc
      Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net
      Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch

  Music:

      Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com
      Aural planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com
      Azure..................................http://azure.zerion.com
      Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp
      Chill..........................http://www.bentdesign.com/chill
      Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd
      Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com
      Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com
  <*> Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm
      Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org
      Fridge...........................http://www.ssmedion.de/fridge
      Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff
      Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org
      Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.L7.net
      Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org
      Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net
      Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org
      Level-d.................................http://www.level-d.com
      Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
      Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
      Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music
      Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon
      MAZ's Sound homepage.............http://www.th-zwickau.de/~maz
      Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
      Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
      Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
      Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org
  <*> Noerror......................http://www.error-404.com/noerror/
      One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net
      Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net
      Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr
      RBi Music.............................htpp://www.rbi-music.com
      Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine
      SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m
      Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev
      Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate
      Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d
      Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr
      Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila
      Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net
      Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr
      Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org
      UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
      Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
      Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com

  Others:

      Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org
      Calodox demolinks exchange.....http://calodox.planet-d.net/cde
      #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net
      Comic Pirates.........................http://scene-central.com
  <*> Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
      Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
      Demoscene.org news forum..............http://www.demoscene.org
      Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
      Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk
      Dreams2 CD.........................http://nl.scene.org/dreams2
      Freax...................http://freax.scene-hu.com/mainmenu.htm
      GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
      Hugi size-compo...............http://home.pages.de/~hugi-compo
      Orange Juice.........................http://ojuice.citeweb.net
      PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained
      Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org
      Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de
      Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net
      Swiss List.................http://www.profzone.ch/vantage/list
      Swiss Scene Server.......................http://www.chscene.ch
      TakeOver................................http://www.takeover.nl
      Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net
      Hungarian scene page...................http://www.scene-hu.com
      Trebel...................................http://www.trebel.org
      Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm

  DiskMags / SceneMags:

      Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag
      Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com
      Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net
      Dragon......................http://www.wasp.w3.pl/pages/dragon
      Fleur................................http://fleur.scene-hu.com
      Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net
      Hugi........................http://home.pages.de/~hugidownload
  <*> Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage
  <*> Planet Chartmag...........http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/
      Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net
      Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org
      Static Line......................http://www.ic.l7.net/statline
      Total Disaster...................http://www.totaldisaster.w.pl
      TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org
      WildMag...........................http://www.wildmag.notrix.de

  FTPs:

      Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
      Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
      Flerp.....................................ftp://flerp.scene.hu
      Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org
      Skynet archive.................ftp://acid2.stack.nl/pub/skynet
      ACiD2 Archive.............................ftp://acid2.stack.nl


--=--=--
----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------
  Editor:            Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
  Assistant Editor:  Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu
  Columnists:        Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
                      Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
                      Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu
                      Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net
                      Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
                      Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be
                      SiN / Ian Haskin / sin@netcom.ca
                      Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net
                      Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / xtryhu00@stud.fee.vutbr.cz
                      Virt / virt@bellsouth.net
  Technical Consult: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org
                      Jim / Jim Nicholson / jim@kosmic.org

  Static Line on the Web:  http://www.ic.l7.net/statline
                           ftp://flerp.scene.hu/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine

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     See you next month!

-eof---=------=--=------=--=--
