Scene Zine Monthly for October 16th, 2003 [Issue #7]

Published By Scene Rep

The Monthly Ramble
By Christofori

This month brings some more great reading! We've got a good balance of articles this month. I think there will be something in this issue that will be of interest for just about everyone out there! Of course, we have returning writers and segments, as well as a new face this month, with a look into MadTracker. Keep reading for our latest addition to the Zine; Monthly News!

Monthly News

Nectarine Radio is looking for mid-stream jingles. We at Scene Rep are of the opinion that representing you as a scener is important to us, and you can also return the favour. Scene Rep will be creating some mid-stream jingles to be played on Nectarine Radio. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to contribute, too! Just download this sample of audio that says: "Greetings from Scene Rep. You're listening to the demoscene on Nectarine Radio," and create a jingle using it. Your jingle should be at or less than 30 seconds in length. Once you have completed your jingle, send it to Patrick Groove. We will submit all jingles received to Nectarine, but we must have your submission before November 1, 2003! So hurry and send us your jingles!

Also, Scene Rep will be making some changes in the coming month. I won't go into much detail at this point, but these changes will improve the way we do things at Scene Rep, and they will also enable us to continue representing the Scene to the best of our abilities. Stay tuned - watch the Latest News for more information!

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Reader FeedBack

"I like the shoutbox feedback, it shows you listen to readers. Also the article by Aciddose about his tracker is good because it shows you listen at the scene's roots. The unreal interview is gave me new info regarding IT3. Libris's dive into sound theory is good, keep that as a byline. Tipping ppl off regarding new software is good (after effects). Demos could be good, but aren't my cup of tea." -JMTM

"There's not many articles in Scene Zine that interest me except for the last Interview with Ray of Unreal and the interview with Virt in issue three." -Mad Brain

"I would like someone to acknowledge christofori for all the hard work he has done." - Majik

Send us your feedback!!!

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A Birds-Eye View on MadTracker
By Inge Janse

1. Introduction
The year is 2003. Boundaries seem to disappear. Where trackers were the hardcore underground tool of preference in the 80's, and a good introduction to making 'real' music in the 90's, nowadays trackers can actually approach the results of these 'real' hardware-based studios. From time to time, songs hit the charts that were born and nurtured in Fasttracker. Expensive 19" synthesizers are being battled in sound quality by Native Instruments. And the gap keeps getting smaller and smaller. The so-called next gen trackers are starting to leave puberty and grow adult and responsible concerning the output they can offer.

1.1 Content, target and overview
In this article I will focus on one of those next gen trackers, namely MadTracker. This program, which was born in 1998 and raised by Yannick Delwiche, belongs to the top three of nowadays most commonly used trackers with an estimated amount of more than ten thousand active users. By means of this article I will give an overview of the exact possibilities of this program and its scene, and define the reasons why you might be the one in search of this tracker. In order to reach this goal, I will start with a brief introduction to the program and the author. Proceeding will be a list of MadTracker specific advantages and a very global comparison between MadTracker and other next gen trackers such as Renoise and Skale. For that purpose, a user survey was held down at the forum of MadTracker.org, and the results gathered form the base of this comparison.

2.1 About current MadTracker and its history
The history of MadTracker takes us back to the winter of 1995. In the province of Namur in Belgium, a fourteen-year-old Yannick Delwiche was sitting in his parents' living room behind his Pentium 60 MHz. Within a Turbo Pascal and Visual Basic environment, the foundations of the first version of MadTracker were made out of plain fun. After some months, MadTracker made it into the 'featured programs' CD-ROM of a French computer magazine twice, and was even mentioned in the 'shareware of the month' section of that same magazine. Due to the positive feedback that MadTracker generated, the by then sixteen year old Yannick saw potential in a Windows-based tracker, and he decided to transport the core of MadTracker to a Delphi / Assembler environment in order to optimize it and to make a successor. By the end of 1998, MadTracker 2 arrived just after the first release of ModPlug Tracker. MadTracker was the first tracker ever with automation, track effects and a multichannel mixer, and it kept evolving since then. Two goals built the foundation of the ever-ongoing progress of MadTracker: to lower the threshold towards trackers and to professionalize the tracking scene.

2.2 Specifications
Nowadays, MadTracker 2 has transformed into a full-grown Windows-based tracker that serves the musical needs of thousands. 64 available tracks, graphical automation of effect parameters, integrated track effects such as filter, delay and reverb, complete Fasttracker 2 support, an intuitive and customizable Windows interface and WINE (Windows emulator for Linux) compatibility form the key characteristics of this tracker. Apart from the program itself, the homepage of MadTracker offers an extensive community that provides additional information, support, a MadTracker song database, its own IRC channel and the forum. Furthermore, a core of active MadTracker forum users has produced multiple articles and activities, such as a beginner's handbook, two-hour compos, chain songs and a yearly competition with various prizes.

Yannick is furthermore active in general scene specific activities. A dedicated server that was funded with money from MadTracker registrations hosts multiple sites such as CTGMusic, a mirror for the Hornet Archive, United Trackers and the United Trackers Sounding Board. This same server is also available for registered MadTracker users to host their songs.

The next big step in the course of this digital life will be the release of MadTracker 3, which is planned to serve as a professional music production tool with complete support for VST and MIDI, while maintaining to be hosted in a tracker interface.

3.1 Reasons of usage
In order to specify the reasons why people use MadTracker as their tool of choice, a user survey was held at the forum of MadTracker.org. Approximately twenty active users gave their thoughts on why they started using the program, why they still use this program, and what the good and bad points are.

The main reason of starting with or switching to MadTracker is its complete Fasttracker and Windows compatibility. Adaptation to the program was said to be very easy due to its complete Windows interface while remaining to be similar to 'old' trackers such as Fasttracker and Impulse Tracker. Users that were unable to use Fasttracker anymore had few problems adjusting to MadTracker, and thus easily explored and used it. Another helpful feature was the large amount of native MadTracker songs that can be downloaded from MadTracker.org. Furthermore the conveniently arranged interface and specifications draw users to the program.

The main reason of still using the program is its ease-of-use and intuitive character. Almost all respondents mentioned that MadTracker gives them an environment in which they can easily work their ideas out in a fluid and time efficient manner. The complete automation of effects and clean layout made people enjoy using this program in a productive way. With regards to the actual output of the program, two things are mentioned most: the track effects and the sound quality. Track effects enabled users to completely finish their songs in MadTracker alone, and to tweak their samples to their own wishes. The sound quality enabled users to produce top-notch songs that needed little mastering afterwards.

Apart from the program itself, the community and the facilities at MadTracker.org and the integrity of the author were mentioned often as reasons to remain interested. Furthermore the continuous work on MadTracker 3 kept users bound to using the current version.

A remarkable phenomenon is the great variation in usage and output of MadTracker. From death metal to uplifting trance, to a drum loop programmer or TV commercial composer, and with both 100 Kb chiptunes as commercially released hip hop tracks, MadTracker generates possibilities for all imaginable forms of audio output.

3.2 MadTracker and other next gen trackers
Apart from active users' feedback, former MadTracker users have also been asked why they stopped using MadTracker and what program they switched to. The most common and important reason for migration was the lack of virtual instrument and MIDI support in MadTracker. Renoise turned out to be the most commonly used program after MadTracker because of its support for VST plugins and hardware equipment, and its versatile configuration of the layout and commands. Existing MadTracker users who needed VST support bypassed this problem by multisampling softsynths and mastering songs afterwards. Renoise was furthermore mentioned by existing MadTracker users to have a less appealing interface that lacks intuitive usage. The switch to Skale was not mentioned in the survey, as it is not considered a real follow-up in its current beta-state, but more an alternative that is based on personal preference. Furthermore, most people who made the switch mentioned a possible return to MadTracker once version 3 is released.

4. Conclusion
With its intuitive interface, Windows-based architecture, advanced tracking features, great ease of use and external facilities, MadTracker offers an extensive and challenging environment for producing music in the broadest sense of the word. The only limitations are found in the advanced area of producing, namely a lack of support for VST plugins and MIDI-based hardware. As with every choice in life, the final decision for a program depends on your specific needs and preferences. If this article about MadTracker appeals to you, do as you would do with every choice in life: try it. There's only one way to find out your truth.

Inge (www.madtracker.org)

MadTracker song resources:
http://www.madtracker.org/music.php
http://www.madtracker.org/compo/index.php

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BBS's and the Scene
By Christofori

BBS's (short for Bulletin Board System) have been around since long before the Internet. At their height, they had several hundred local users, hundreds (or even thousands) of files available for download, and lots of great other features (like message boards and door games). Many sceners, especially the older ones, remember the BBS days with great fondness. You see, BBS's were a local phenomenon for sceners and computer geeks alike.

A Bulletin Board system was typically set up to run on one computer, and it could have anywhere from one to dozens of users online at any given time. The real limitation on the number of users would be the number of phone lines that the SysOp (System Operator) had connected to the BBS. Several BBS's were run on networks with dozens of phone lines, but many were simple one-line systems that fostered a great sense of community amongst the visitors.

Any of this sounding familiar yet? Well, if not, don't worry. Suffice it to say, the Internet has dwarfed the BBS in popularity, and it's easy to see why. However, the Internet cannot possibly simulate the overall experience of a bulletin board system, because of it's size. BBS's were primarily a local experience; for example, in any given town or city, there could be one or several BBS's running, many of which were available 24 hours a day (the only exception being when their lines were full, and users would receive a busy signal).

With this kind of setup, the users generally all shared things in common; most were in the same city. Many were also sceners who were out to share their demos, intros, cracktros, music, and artwork. While the technology has certainly changed since the days of the BBS, what about the characteristics of the scene? How was the scene affected by the BBS?

Way back, before the BBS was anywhere near common to sceners, there were swap meets and other meetings, where computer enthusiasts would meet to exchange games, news, programs, and music (amongst other things) that they had written. This would take place at regular intervals, and the media of the day was the floppy disk and/or cassette tapes.

Now, enter the BBS. With BBS's, sceners no longer had to leave their homes to share their content. Of course, there would always be swap meets, and eventually scene parties; but the BBS soon grew to provide a valuable way to express oneself as a scener.

I took a few moments to talk with Patrick Groove, who enjoyed his time on BBS's "back in the day" - and I asked him to lay out a few thoughts about his experiences:

Patrick Groove: "BBS's really began the demoscene community as a whole. The reason being is because cracktros would never have been distributed otherwise. These being illegal cracked games with an 'intro' to show off the skills of the cracker which would often feature music as well. People would discover after a time that these cracktros were really a piece of art in themselves, therefore why not have free standing demonstrations of coding, art, and music? BBS's would also need to promote themselves so they would have invitations built by demo teams with scroller's, music, and neat effects which of course would showcase the phone number and features of any given BBS. BBS's were as our forums are, a HUB for sceners to communicate electronically. Even the sense that there was a 'scene' would be derived from the use of BBS's to collaborate and share. I would suggest that BBS's would be places that parties would be organized and promoted and that because people had a forum they then took to competition away from BBS's. The internet would then give the demoscene a larger stage. Its scope of changes are really too numerous to discuss in brief, but imagine it like immigration. Those with different ideals could branch away into their own scenes. The art scene would take off, the music scene would bloom, and the demoscene would hold all of these ideals together. That's why we now have a tracking scene which is rather oblivious to what the demoscene represents.

My favorite aspects about BBS's would have to be Door games. These would be text based games such as Legend of the Red Dragon, a typical RPG with quests, items, and encounters with monsters in a 'forest.'

As [things began to change], art disks would become zines, and zines would become diskmags. Art disks had anything from ansi/ascii art, music, literature, bitmapped graphics, and executable intros."

There were a great many things that made the BBS a wonderful experience. Patrick eluded to Door games, which was also a favorite part of many other users' overall experience on BBS's; and of course there were the files and message boards, too. Really, you still see these things around today, just in different forms. We have online games like MMORPGs and MUDs, which are somewhat similar in structure to Door games (you might say that they are the next evolutionary step of the Door game). We have FTP archives of files available for download, as well as peer-to-peer solutions for all sorts of things. We have online forums, and the ever-infamous blogs, which could be seen as the 'next thing' after BBS message boards.

All this talk about BBS's existing in the past might make you think they're all dead; but they're not! Just like any other great thing, there are still some great BBS's out there. Many have converted from a modem on a phone line to telnet, which allows users from all over the globe to connect over the Internet. If you'd like to try your hand at becoming a BBS user, you might consider trying out telnet://outworldbbs.com - it requires an application to be installed which can connect via the telnet protocols, and most Windows based PC's have such terminal programs already installed! If you need a way to access telnet BBS's, check out this list of telnet clients.

Also, for a listing of other BBS's in North America, check out the USBBS list. There are also several other great listings, like this one at Google. Have fun BBSing!

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Monthly Scene Music Reviews
By drq

It's a well-known fact that 90% of everything is utter crap. No matter what you're looking at, this percentage never goes below 90. But sometimes, it is way higher. This mainly applies to areas where new ground is broken and where innovation is an integral part of the area itself, not just something that might happen along its borders. I won't take this line of abstraction any further, but instead give you a concrete example: IDM. "Intelligent Dance Music." Or "experimental electronic music," for those of you who prefer a description that actually has something to do with what it describes.

Ideally, IDM is experimental by definition. Experiments often fail. Sometimes they are completely pointless, or merely a repetition of a previously conducted experiment. Sometimes they fail due to lack of competence. But sometimes they produce something new and wonderful. In these short reviews, I'm going to concentrate on a few of those successful experiments which explain and excuse the existence of the failures, i.e. the other 99.9% of the genre.

Esem - outburst (then flat)

This is an extraordinary track. Why? Because it has no harmonic content whatsoever. It has plenty of sounds, but none of them provide melodies or chords. You can't hum this tune. You can't sing along with it. Yet it's memorable somehow; it works as music, at least to me. Actually, when I heard it for the first time back in 2001, I think it widened my definition of the word "music," and for that I am thankful.

Basically this piece has two distinct elements: a cyclic beat against a backdrop of constantly morphing noise. The beat glues it all together and remains confident no matter what's going on around it. It's not what I would call a "driving" beat; instead it gives the impression of trying to get somewhere but not quite making it. It keeps slipping back down. It's a cool effect. And it never gets repetitive, despite the fact that it doesn't change one bit. It's a rhythm that sounds very fresh to my ears, and one I will probably never grow tired of. The morphing noise, on the other hand, defies description. You'll have to listen for yourself. It sounds sharp yet organic, harsh yet warm, and rough in a really smooth way. It's like having your brain polished with fine sandpaper. It tickles. Please, put all preconceptions aside and download this file.

Download .mp3 (4.78 mb) from Kahvi

DiE - Strangest thing

A piece of Intelligent Dance Music that you can actually Dance to (without looking like you're having some kind of seizure) is a rare thing, but here is one such track (whether or not it's "Intelligent" and "Music" is a different matter though). I quote Kahvi: "a mad track, with a strangely addictive feel." Very true.

It does take a while for this track to get started. The intro is a reverb-drenched confusion of burbling bass, sprinkled synth tones and a weird pulsating noise that sounds like it's trying to get some sort of beat going. After a while it succeeds. The percussion then consists of a simple kick, a hihat and - that's right - noise. We're moving on to a slightly coarser type of aural sandpaper with this track. It almost hurts a little, but in a nice way. The noise interacts with the bass in a slightly offbeat manner, which adds to the drive in a great way. It's an extremely repetitive type of rhythm, but it has a feel that makes it irresistible. The synths in the background don't really add any variation. Just some atmosphere. But this track doesn't need any variation. The composer has found a perfect balance of timbre and texture. Let's all just sit back and admire it.

Download .mp3 (5.34 mb) from Kahvi

Super Science - We're Like Air, Everywhere At Once

You probably thought I was going to venture even further into the land of unlistenable crap with this last review, but no. If the two previous songs were sandpaper, this is eiderdown. It's near the other end of the electronic spectrum. It's practically easy listening. It's an old Monotonik release from 2000, by one of the most interesting artists ever to release on that label.

It's called "We're Like Air, Everywhere At Once" and builds up nicely into something incredibly warm and soft that you just want to take in your lap and cuddle. It's playful and melodious, and just downright pleasant. Even though there's lots of stuff happening, the music never loses focus or direction. Some of the noises in the intro balance dangerously near the edge of disharmony, but it never gets out of hand. And there are plenty of layered melodies to enjoy. I really like the sound of the main melody - it's sung, but there are no actual words (or maybe there are, but I can't make them out). The themes are elusive but still memorable. And it all sounds so nice and smooth and colourful. It's very, very hard to dislike. If you thought your liking skills were stretched to their utmost with the previous songs, your disliking skills will be put to the test here. Good luck.

Download .mp3 (4.19 mb) from Monotonik

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Browser Competitions with Macromedia Products
By Patrick Groove

It has been a trend over the last few years that demo parties offer a competition for Flash developers, however this summer Assembly took the next step and offered a browser competition. That kind of thinking opens new doors as there are other ways to hack out a demo in a browser other than in Flash. With an ever increasing paradigm shift in the direction of rich media for the web versus plain Jane html, these competitions are cutting edge in their options. Currently the leading software in this area leans towards Macromedia products. Having worked with Flash 5/MX and Director 8.5/MX I hope I can relay how these products can propel you into a new form of competition, and yes, as with any true demo technology you'll have an opportunity to code your ass off.

Macromedia Flash

There are now over 400 million computers loaded with Flash Player worldwide. An extremely exciting number considering that Flash content is relatively new. It was in 1997 that Macromedia acquired FutureSplash from FutureWave which had the ability to deliver vector based drawings and animations to the web. Macromedia would mold this application in a full blown authoring environment with a scripting language called ActionScript.

ActionScript is very similar to JavaScript in the way that you write it. For example the following is a function in Flash (non-coders can skip this example):

function myFunction{
    myVariable=value;
    if (myVariable==condition){
        aValue++
    }
}

As you can see there is more to Flash than just animation. You can accompany media with a powerhouse of code. 3D rotating cubes in Flash? It has been done. You can also code physics and apply them to objects in your movie.

The other really great thing about Flash for the demoscener is you can build a demo on the spot within hours. Flash with import video and just about any image format. This includes PNG with full support of transparency. Being a graphic artist this feature is especially important to me because I can do some nifty particle effects in conjunction with ActionScript. The audio support isn't all that shabby either considering you can import MP3 and WAV formats, and then further compress them. If you're really ambitious you could even build your own playback engine in ActionScript and trigger samples in your library.

Check out some Flash demos on Pouet

Macromedia Director

As a demoscener you'll probably want to make amazing 3D experiences for the browser if you're competing in this category. Director is the solution. This program is an absolute beast. Mind you the learning curve is high in this environment even if you're an avid Flash user. However if you are a Flash user you'll have an advantage as Director can import Flash movies and use them as sprites. Yes sprites! If you've programmed in C++ you'll know this word and rightly so considering that Director's programming language is Lingo (based on C structure).

You have two options when it comes to 3D in this environment. You either tell director to model a shape and then texture it, or you import your models from another application. I prefer to make my scene in 3DS Max then export them to shockwave. You can do this with an exporter available from Discreet (www.discreet.com). You can also export cameras and lights and refer to them in Director, or you can get Director to make them for you.

The following is some code I made to move one of my cameras around in a linear direction:

on exitFrame me
    sprite(1).camera.translate(vector(.08,0,-.08))
    go to the frame
end

When I began using Director I was also pleased to find a particle generator and some cool fog effects built in. You can either use those or build your own. This application was built mostly for CD-ROM interactive content and recently has been used to develop DVD interfaces. So far I haven't seen many demos built with Director, so here's a reason to start.

Conclusion

That's two powerful applications for you. One of the things I really think is great about both of them is they can get you jobs. If you are a scener who needs a career to compliment that hobby your options begin here. Good luck, and if you have any questions or comments about this article then write me!

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Demos Exposed
By Polaris

Hello Demo Sceners! Well, I'm not sure where you are located, but at my location in Canada the weather is starting to dip below zero degrees Celsius during the day. The leaves have all but vacated the trees in a mass exodus, leaving behind their bare selves. There is something creepy about this time of year; just like the intricate web of branches left in the trees. Something almost in the air itself . With this in mind I've taken the theme up a notch, and have decide to release my top three “Halloween inspired demos”. Watch them in sequence for an increasingly spooky Halloween themed demo evening! Enjoy!

System Specs:
OS: Windows 2000
API: Direct X 9.0a
VIDEO: Geforce 4 Ti 4200 - 128 mb DDR Ram
RAM: 512 MB

#3: FREESTYLE by Condense/Syndrome [Download Link]:

This demo starts with a good sense of humor. It begins with a dialog box, with the options “Scare Me Maaan!” or Exit. What I find really impressive with this demo, is that there is no lag that I can perceive. It starts right into the production. Which is a great way to pull your audience in.

The music starts with a Jazzy tune, but soon and without break, moves into something I would describe (hesitantly) as pipe organ gothic with a fun house feel. Top notch on musical variety. With that variety however comes some style choices. This is not a synching demo, it flows. So synching between graphics effects and the screen is loose at best.

What I like about this demo is that it's fun. It's cartoon gothic, equipped with a stereotypical haunted house on top of the spooky hill. Great stuff just before Halloween. I was disappointed here and there however, as the production abruptly pauses. A real halt… perhaps while models are being spooled of disk? In any case, it's a little distracting and makes you wonder for a moment if something's gone wrong. (or is that an effect?)

Perhaps the scariest thing in this production is it's firewall access. It starts by trying to access crl.microsoft.com. After doing some research, I found out that's certificate revocation list. That has something to do with digital certificates not being authorized anymore. It's a recent phenomenon for sp3 windows 2000 systems for games etc to try to hit this site. I felt calm after doing some internet research, and simply denied the access in my firewall rules.

The bottom line: This is a fun Adams family Halloween inspired romp through cartoon shaded Goth land.

#2 Raw Confessions by Cocoon (226 downloads this month) [Download Link]:

Raw confessions starts in full screen with a creepy background. What I love about this however, is that it presents a %complete. Very important to let the user know that they haven't frozen. That having been said, it takes a while for this demo to load on my system. Progress loading seems to move in fits and starts as well, the last 20% seemed longer than the first 80%. But it does load, and will require a geforce3 at least.

This demo is set against a strong metal tune, inspired by zombies and gore. The graphics are strong in this production, with several character models, including a little girl, boy, zombie and some kind of creature singing. The lip movement of the creature singing especially impressed me. It's top notch character skinning. However, it lost a little bit, as what it was mouthing had little relationship to the sound track at all.

One visual artifact I noticed is blurring. There must be some kind of level of detail optimizations going on, to replace the far away graphics with a flat polygon or something. Keep a close eye when you are watching it; as you can notice it at the top of the TV scene , when you fly away, and the tunnel scene with the characters that burst through the boards. I'm not sure what it is, but in many ways it looks more right than it doesn't. This adds something to it… as if blurred by your peripheral vision.

This demo is classical horror in a gore sense. I think many may feel it's over the top. I can't help but to admire however, the characters and modeling are excellent.

The bottom line: Death Metal meets Fangoria style gore.

#1 Moments by Insomnia [Download Link]:

This demo wins for the scariest demo I could find. It is downright creepy, and not in a cliché or gory way. This demo gets under your skin, and pulls it all together with suspense. Graphics models without high-res textures? You won't notice. You also won't notice the music is swapped for eerie ambient sounds. And you wont notice anything; except for the hair curl at the back of your neck by the time it's done with you.

This demo plays light and dark extremely well, using real-time lighting as a primary feature of the production. Special effects? I can't say that this is about that. Instead, it's a story, with directorial sense that rivals anything in the industry. The production has a clear beginning, middle and climax; brining itself to a crescendo of Halloween creepiness.

The cuts are right, the camera is amazingly positioned, and everything flows from start to finish. A fantastic touch is the loading screen -> appearing it on the wall later on as a picture frame. It ties it in to the ending, just as it did in the beginning. The complete story is told from the camera. There is no talking, and there is close to zero movement of the characters.

The bottom line: Alfred Hitchcock suspense in a demo that will leave it's mark on you.

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