_//\\________________________________________________________________________
_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_________________________________________ July, 2000
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\\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 135 Subscribers
_____________________________________________________________________________


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Table Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Opening:
           Message From the Editor
           Letters From Our Readers
     Features:
           Takeover 2000 -- 64k Intro Competition With Comments
           The VIP2 debate -- Ripping and Crediting
           The Root -- How They Got Involved (This Month: Stalker)
     Columns:
        Music:
           In Tune -- Blue Zone's "Robotic Electric Orchestra"
           The Listener -- Music from Smash, Twilton, Pretty Boy Cross Over
           Retro Tunage -- "Colors of Neptune" by Ari
        Demo:
           Intro Watch -- Transagression 3 by MFX
        General:
           Scene Dirt -- News & Rumors
           Call to Keyboards -- Music Packs Out-Of-Date
           Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene
     Closing:
           Credits

--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Talk about busy.  This issue was whipped up with a weed-whacker minutes
  before deadline.

  Ok, no really.  But it was a close one.

  With everything going on in my life, Static Line is still my pride and
  joy, and I don't see anything that will change that.  I have a great
  staff (Gekko and Tryhuk both work overtime to provide quality articles,
  and even when he's busy, Seven still writes something).  The readers are
  great as well.  Thanks to all of you who wrote to express your support
  and prayers for my mother.  Her kidney was removed taking out most of
  the cancer, but she's not yet.  Things are going okay, but she starts
  her Immuno-Therapy treatments this week, so we got a ways to go.

  But, this isn't a group therapy session, so lets get onto the part you
  guys really care about!

  We got a packed issue this month.  Aside from all our regular columns,
  we have some comments about Takeover 2000 from Gekko.  We also have more
  about the VIP2 Demo debate (The classic ripping debate with a twist).
  We also have another article for "The Root" (sponsored by Tryhuk):  This
  month, Ari writes.

  Got a few new subscribers this month, and I'm glad to see that.  In the
  upcoming months, you'll see new changes to the way things work
  (hopefully), as we now have access to our very own server.  I'm not
  going to share too many details, but be forwarned:  The mailing list
  will move soon.  Those of you already subscribed won't have to
  resubscribe, but the application process may change a bit.  I'll keep
  everyone posted.

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Takeover 2000
     64k Intro Competition With Comments
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     The previous Takeover brought several of the finest intros of 1999; I
  was a bit disappointed to see the entries to the intro compo this year.
  Here follows a very brief summary on all of them.

  -=- The results -=-

  1. (104 points) pluxity by distance tomic warp / tpolm unik
  2. (78 points) shortest route by analog44, dipe, flow & rieha / array
  3. (78 points) soepkip10 by ... / kontvlokken posse
  4. (75 points) hello by mnemonix and friends / kaleido


  Pluxity by Unik+TPOLM
  req: Windows/DOS
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/pluxity.zip

     Fine and well-designed intro: nice colors, simple flatshaded objects,
  halftones, wireframe rendering. It is however not 'unik' at all. There
  are no original parts, but all is arranged very neatly. The code is
  slow.


  Shortest Route by Array
  req: Windows; 3d card; DirectX
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/a-sroute.zip

  This intro is the first release of Array. It is only 36 kilobytes in
  size and it is quite short. The music is a simple but fine chiptune.
  Probably the weakest point of the intro is the design. There is a cheap
  blue-green setup from the beginning till the end. Most of the time there
  are 3d effects with spheres and cubes. At the end a fine morph is shown;
  it looks something like a waving flag and it is very impressive. If only
  they had spent more time on the outlook.


  Soepkip 10 by Kontvlokken Posse
  req: Windows; 3d card; OpenGL
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/soepkip10.zip

  Simple intro in oldschool style. There is not too much to say about this
  one. The oldschool effects have been the same for about 15 years now.


  Hello by Kaleido
  req: Windows; DirectX
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/kaleido-hello.zip

  This is a mediocre intro. The design is bad, despite all efforts (eg.
  the transparent squares). The colors are bad, the same for the font.
  There are simple particle fields, plasma/tunnel things and friends:
  these somehow don't look fine and they are cliches. There are two more
  original effects: light glow rings and a waterfall. The waterfall is
  quite spectacular. The intro is spiced up with jokes: the 'ring on the
  phone'-part and the solar eclipse effect.

                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The VIP2 debate
     Ripping and Crediting
  By:  Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Yesterday, I took the last exam of my student life. Well, let's hope
  it was the last one, cause we don't know the results yet, but I'm fairly
  positive about it. One easy way to force yourself to study a lot is to
  bring your PC to the shop with the request to put a 3D-card in it, as I
  still haven't got the thing  back. Hence my temporary absence from the
  Screenlit Vertigo corner, which I promise to make up for next issue. The
  importance of having a 3D-card in today's demoscene is getting higher
  and higher. At TakeOver 2000, the best 3 demos require all hardware
  acceleration, and 2 of the best 3 intros too.  And for a demo-reviewer,
  nothing is more frustrating than being unable to watch the newest demos,
  especially when everyone is praising them sky-high.  Such was the case
  with VIP2.

     VIP2/Popsy Team is an invitation demo for the Very Important Party 2
  in France, and it placed 1st at the TakeOver democompo. Popsy Team has
  already proven that  they can make fine demos, such as Mind's Evolution
  or Nothing New, but the  reactions to VIP2 were extremely positive. "The
  best demo of 2000", "These guys  are god" and "Popsy Team are my new
  heroes" were among the messages heard in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos. However,
  things quickly changed when it was found out  that the MP3-soundtrack,
  was a song from Fear Factory, a commercial band.  Neither the credits in
  the demo nor the infofile mentioned Fear Factory, and although no-one
  from Popsy Team was credited as the author of the music, the general
  conclusion was: This Is A Rip! In a few days time, c.s.i.p.d was flooded
  with almost 500 messages on the subject. I don't remember them all by
  heart :), but I'll summarize the main points (so don't flame me if I
  don't quote something exactly).

     Popsy Team admitted immediately that the soundtrack was from the Fear
  Factory album "Obsolete", and that they had used it because they liked
  it so much. Fear  Factory wasn't credited because the demo was finished
  at TakeOver, and they had a lot of last-minute problems while the
  deadline was coming closer. Rather than re-linking and re-synchronizing
  the demo, they decided not to include the already drawn Fear Factory
  credits, and to add these in the final version.  The TakeOver audience
  would surely recognize the song, or at least realize it  was a
  commercial track due to the high quality.

     A lot of people were not happy with this explanation. If you work on a
  demo for 2 months, then the credits could have been included much
  sooner, even *before* you add your own credits. And a note in the
  info-file does hardly takes a minute to write. Besides, several people
  who were at TakeOver said that they had not recognized the music, as
  some didn't even know Fear Factory, and thus thought that someone from
  Popsy Team had made it. Here some Popsy Team members admitted that they
  had been wrong, and mentioned that a final version with credits was
  almost complete. But that wasn't the end of the discussion.

     A smaller but significant part of c.s.i.p.d thought that is was simply
  unfair to use commercial material at a democompo, even if you credit
  the original authors. Commercial music is recorded at high-end studios
  with expensive equipment, and a non-professional musician cannot reach
  the same quality.  Besides, using a commercial track when there are so
  many good scene-modules out there is an insult to the trackers. Here
  Popsy Team argued that they had  made the demo just for fun, and that
  winning a compo should not be the main goal of a demogroup. And thus
  "an unfair advantage" is meaningless. Besides, it had been done before:
  the demo State Of Mind/Bomb uses an MP3 from Senser, a commercial band,
  and the demo is still at the top of the charts.  That wasn't really a
  good argument, because State Of Mind had caused an equally big
  discussion when it was released, and the general consensus was that
  Bomb got away with it this time, but that it shouldn't happen again.
  Also most people did not agree with the compos-are-only-for-fun
  argument, but thought it was OK to make a demo with commercial material
  as long as you don't compete with it at a compo.

     An even smaller part of c.s.i.p.d had the opinion that even the
  demoscene should obey the copyright laws, and thus use no commercial
  stuff without the explicit permission of the authors. They referred to
  the Jay Newingham case, and argued that it's hypocritical to protect
  the work of scene musicians while at the same time allowing sceners to
  use the works of real-life artists.  (If you don't know, Jay and his
  Planet-X band had ripped music of Unreal/Pulse, Basehead and Purple
  Motion/Future Crew, putting their own names on the tracks.  A massive
  mail-campaign resulted in the ripper being thrown out mp3.com.  You can
  read the full story in Grendels article in Pains February issue).  The
  more underground-minded part of the scene found this over the top, after
  all the demoscene was born out of the warez and game-crackerscene, so we
  shouldn't behave as lawyers.

     A number of other topics was discussed in sub-threads, such as whether
  making a demo with pirated tools is the same as ripping music or
  graphics (general conclusion: it's not), whether there are any demos
  with non-commercial MP3's (Yes, a lot, so prohibiting the use of MP3s
  is not an option), and why people enter compos (for the big-screen
  experience, for the fame, and some for  the money).


  -=- Conclusion -=-
     As the demoscene grows, it's harder to reach consensus on topics as
  this. Only a few rules are more or less agreed upon by everyone:

  1) Always credit your sources. Putting your own name under some else's
  work is a major crime in the scene, but not crediting is almost as bad.
  Never assume  that "people will recognize it": not everyone listens to
  you favorite band, not everyone has played this game (no, not even
  Quake), and not everyone knows that graphician. Give credit where
  credit is due, both in the demo and  the info-file.

  2) Don't use commercial stuff without permission for demos at compos,
  for the  organizers could be held responsible for
  copyright-infringement. Showing,  distributing and even simply storing
  your demo somewhere will be illegal, and  while it's your own risk if
  you release it yourself (not at a party),   organizers do not want legal
  troubles that could jeopardize future parties.  As a matter of fact,
  most parties have already a "no copyrighted material"-rule.

     If they had know beforehand that people would make so much fuss about
  it, they  definitely would have added those credits, said a Popsy team
  member (G-hell or  U2, I don't remember). And indeed, it's often a
  matter of not knowing the  rules, combined with laziness or lack of
  time. So if you hear of someone making  a demo with ripped stuff, do
  them a favor and warn them for the negative  reaction.

                --Seven


  -=- Related URLs -=-
  The original VIP2 is at the moment in:
  ftp.scene.org/incoming/TAKEOVER00/demo/vip2.zip (7164K)
  but will move sooner or later to: ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/2000

  New version at the Popsy Team website: http://popsyteam.rtel.fr

  The Pain website:  http://pain.planet-d.net


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The Root
     How They Got Involved
  By:  Ari (aka: Stalker)
  Sponsored By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     I was, am, and always will be a tracker.  Tracking is an unrecognized,
  unappreciated, and misunderstood art.  Just like any other instrument,
  tracking takes years of dedication and practice to get anywhere.  Those
  beginning years are what I will speak of in this article.  My name is
  Ariel Gross, and I used to go by Stalker, and I used to be a woman.
  Just kidding about that last part.

     It all started when I was 13 and I was browsing a local BBS.  I found
  an unusual music file called "GRAVE.MOD" ... I thought, what the hell is
  a MOD? A good friend of mine that had just recently shelled out over
  $100 for a SoundBlaster Pro filled me in with the details.  You could
  actually download free software to make and listen to free music.  It
  was a mind-boggling idea, and I was into music, took piano lessons for a
  year when I was four years old, and I thought "what the heck, I can do
  this music thing."

     After about four months of tracking and digging as deep as possible in
  an attempt to find more about MODs, I found the sweet haven for tracker
  junkies like myself known as the demoscene.  I went on a demo rampage,
  downloading every Future Crew, Renaissance, and Triton release ever.
  When I found out that these groups were using tracked music for their
  demos, I simply had to be a part of a demo group.  I couldn't stand it.

     Another month after that, I was posting on several BBSes hailing the
  coming of the new entertainment known as DEMOS, and I was contacted by
  Zilym, a younger teenager that was a brilliant coder that was into
  coding demos. Well, to make a long story short, about six months later
  we formed Gentilezza, which turned into OTM, the SUPER DEMO POWERHOUSE
  YOU KNOW AND LOVE.  Ok, so we only released one demo, and the entire
  thing was made in text, so it was really a textro...  But I like to
  glorify.  Fellow OTM tracker Tek (tek.dMusic.com) and I would frequently
  bounce music off each other, unknowingly pushing our musicality and
  preparing ourselves for newer and better trackers, such as Impulse
  Tracker, which is what I still make the majority of my music on today.

     Then the day came where I found Psychic Monks.  I wasn't too concerned
  about the demos, but was completely dumbfounded by the musician -
  Necros.  After a couple attempts at contacting him, I was finally
  successful, and he told me of an underground IRC hideaway known as
  #trax.  Thank goodness for #trax, because it gave me the opportunity to
  form relationships with many brilliant musicians, and springboarded me
  into a group known as FM, or Five Musicians. Later I found out that I
  was Purple Motion's replacement... Purple Motion being the musician for
  Future Crew.  Needless to say I was flabberghasted. I was a member of FM
  for a short while until one day I woke up on the wrong side of life and
  climsily quit the group.  FM was my claim to fame, a name that people
  trusted, a means for me to distribute some music and actually get
  feedback.

     Well, it has been many years since I have been a regular in #trax,
  been a member of a tracking group (does Analogue count?), or really
  given any serious thought to the demo scene.  It's a sad truth.
  However, my musical endeavors have not strayed.  I work on music daily,
  struggling to find time around my fiancee, my own business
  (www.absmot.com), and other silly hobbies that I have picked up over the
  years (wanna see my magic nose goblins collection?) ... I am still
  highly commited to tracking despite the thousands of dollars I have
  poured into MIDI equipment.  Tracking is an artform that has stolen my
  heart and will never give it back.  I was, am, and always will be a
  tracker.

     As last words, I would like to thank everyone in the tracking scene
  for supporting me for so long, and a special shout out to Necros (now
  known as the Alpha Conspiracy, www.alphaconspiracy.com).  Also check out
  my most recent tracks at ari.dMusic.com or www.cosmicbaby.com.

                --Ari (aka: Stalker)


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  In Tune
    Blue Zone's  "Robotic Electric Orchestra"
  By:  Coplan and Setec
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Introduction -=-
     For those of you who never had the opportunity to read Trax Weekly, I
  used to write this column for the legendary magazine.  While I wrote for
  TW, I did a review of Blue Zone's "Melodious World."  During the review,
  I fell in love with the Blue Zone style.  The review lead me to request a
  membership in the group Immortal Coil, and Blue Zone happily accepted.

     When I picked up Static Line, I made a policy that I would not review
  songs by people associated with Static Line or Immortal Coil.  The good
  thing about the folding of Immortal Coil is that, since I no longer have
  a shared affiliation, I can review tunes by my former group-mates.

     This song is not a new song.  It is dated March 31, 1999.  If I
  remember correctly, that's when things started to die down with Immortal
  Coil.  The song was never released under the iC name, and I'm not sure
  it was even released at all.  But, you can get it this month from the
  Static Line website on our Current Issues page.


  -=- Coplan -=-
     One of Blue Zone's talents is that he can make musical gibberish
  sound like musical beauty.  Those of you familiar with his style will
  notice the influences by Jean Michel Jarre, and the computer based
  Demoscene.  It's true, he's gotten the best of both worlds in all his
  music.  To this day, Blue Zone is one of my favorite scene musicians,
  and this is one of my favorite tracks.  It took me almost a year to
  proove to myself that my feelings aren't routed from biased.  The peice
  is just incredible.

     There's a lot going on in "Robotic Electric Orchestra," and I fear
  that I can't quite understand it all, nor can I communicate to you why
  it's just such a beautiful song.

     The tune opens with a haunting bunch of riffs, very little base at
  all (this is why I call it haunting).  Then he kicks in with a solid
  base line (though very subtle) and some percussion.  It's at this point
  that we begin to see the complexity of the Blue Zone style.  I can mute
  what seems to be the lead instrument channels (17, 18 and 26), and I
  still have a solid peice of music.  That's what interests me!  Like a
  hand woven blanket, you can remove one strand, and the blanket will
  still hold together.  But this is no quilt.

     One of the great aspects about this song is the fact that tune flows
  from one part to another. There are repetative riffs that carry from
  one part of the song into the next, and then faded out as a new lead
  instrument is introduced. Start at order 13 for a demonstration.  You
  hear what could be the chorus to the song: some very high pitched synths
  doing a simple riff.  Then at order 14, you have a slightly lower
  pitched synth come in with long, pitch sliding notes (sliding up,
  sliding down, whatever seems fit).  Then, at order 18, the sliding
  synths come in with a different riff so that Blue Zone can carry into
  the next part which starts at order 20, which is an outro riff, one that
  signals the near end of the song.  But the very end of the song sounds
  like it could be the beginning of the song.  I got a wierd idea that the
  song could be played backwards or forwards without loosing any quality
  to the song.  I havn't officially tried it, but I wouldn't be surprised
  if it sounded just as wonderful backwards.

     I find it hard to explain why I love this song so much.  I can only
  give you a minor glimpse with what I just wrote.  But the truth of it
  all is that even the greatest of musical critics (which I am not) would
  have trouble explaining why things sound good.  In this case, I feel
  that if I were to continue dissecting the song, you wouldn't learn
  anything more, so I leave you with this comment:

     Robotic Electric Orchestra is simply a song that everyone needs to
  hear to understand its power.  It's a complex song with simple parts,
  all combined in a tapestry of sound.  It has a quality that can be
  matched by few, but one that many have tried to achieve.

     Until next time.

                --Coplan

  Song Information:
     Title:  Robotic Electric Orchestra
     Author:  Blue Zone
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  bz-reo.zip / bz-reo.it (IT 2.14)
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  1.4 MB / 1.5 MB
     Source:  http://ic.l7.net/statline/current.htm

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

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


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The Listener
    Music from Smash, Twilton, Pretty Boy Cross Over
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     Sorry people, but I had finals this month, I didn't find time to
  write a bigger review, so this month it will be a bit shorter. Also
  during holidays I don't expect to make big downloads, so if somebody
  wants to take care during upcoming 2-3 months (until I get a job),
  feel free to write something for this column.

  -=- Other tracks -=-

     Norfair belongs amongst my favorite musicians, and one of the main
  things I like in his music are the awesome leads.  With "Lair of souls,"
  Norfair follows the tradition he had in "anxiety" together with Hunz.
  Well, those leads are so nice. The style of the track is, again,
  somewhere between funk and jazz.
  http://www.kosmic.org | "Lair of souls" | xm and mp3 version available

     One of the tracks that really hit me this month is "Oranje bloom" by
  Pretty Boy Cross Over; released at monotonik.  You'll immediately notice
  a bit of unusual percussion, well used resonant filters and distance-like
  attempt in construction of the ambient atmosphere and its minimalistic
  changes. Same way go main instruments, which play a simple and repetitive
  melody, but it works. It is a VERY nice track.
  http://www.mono211.com | pretty-boy-crossover-oranje-bloom.mp3 | 5.8mb

     Another track that touched me from the first sound: Echoes colide
  with upcoming sounds and form a melody in the style somewhere between
  Andreas Saag, Esem and T.Wilton. It has fresh and novel sound,
  interesting ideas and stable rhythm. Second good consecutive release
  by Twilton. Please grab "Room for one"!
  http://www.noisemusic.org | twilton-noise_room_for_1.mp3 | 4mb | 2000

     I just had to visit mp3.com homepage of Smash, where he has mp3
  versions of some of his tracks. One I haven't heard is "Once more,"
  a dark jazzy trip-hop with a lot of "Last train" atmosphere, but
  evolving in a different way. Extremely good music!
  http://mp3.com/superjazz | once_more.mp3 | 4.3mb | 2000 (tlt rerelease)

     Last track I want to mention is "Trust you, trust me" by Twister.
  Although it is assigned as dnb, it has signs of ambient music with the
  background soundscapes and significant echoes, that give to the track
  more full feeling, but they don't take over it. Also dnb line shows
  signs of being influenced by modern electronic and breakbeat things,
  and some of the occasional sounds will remind you also on Portishead.
  http://www.tdr.scene.org | TOKYO173.ZIP | mp3 | 7.2mb | 5.6.2000


                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Retro Tunage
    "Colors of Neptune" by Ari
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     In the beginning, I had problems accepting music from a guy who was
  called Stalker, later Ari. His music has weird progression, some tracks
  are very eccentric by everything that can be eccentric.  Still, once you
  accept this style, you find out that his music is beautiful.

     Among his best releases definitely belongs his "analogue" releases
  "Pour toi, belle" and "Colors of Neptune".  Both tracks have nice
  leads, although you can't always exactly say what can be considered
  as the main instrument.  As i said, I love the way the leads move
  and every time I listen to it, I discover a part I didn't remember
  and I just wonder how I could miss it.  But that's not all, Ari also
  works good with tempo and breaks, and his percussion is quite evolved
  (that was, IMHO, his weakest point in his oldest releases) and that
  makes the track look shorter than it is.  And style?  It just can't be
  described.  It is ambient, sometimes jazzy, a bit influenced by chip
  tunes, experimental and above all original.  It's a nice music with
  lovely leads and chords, that will touch your heart.

  I know that this review does no justice, but trust me - get this music.

  Song Information:
    Title:  Colors of Neptune
    Author:  Ari
    Release date: 1997
    Length:  3m 27s (3m 21s trimmed)
    Filename (zipped/unzipped):  ari-nept.zip / ari-nept.it
    File Size (zipped/unzipped):  520kb / 818kb
    Source:  ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/analogue/...


                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Intro Watch
    Transagression 3 by MFX
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Winner 64k intro at Plutonium 2000, Finland

     MFX won fame for their realtime raytracing intros. They haven't
  released such an intro for a longer while. Now they are back with one,
  probably under inspiration of recent fine raytracing intros - Heaven 7
  by Exceed, for example.

     The intro starts with a big subsampling bug (big white squares), and
  similar artifacts appear through the intro. The screen intentionally
  gets boxy several times, this hides the bugs a bit.

     The music is a spinning, fast house track. Its tempo gives the mood of
  the intro; although I must say that it's not my style at all.

     The intro is very minimal; there are no texts, poems, credits,
  greetings, logos, pictures: it is plainly a sequence of raytracing
  scenes. The camera is moving very fast, it follows the tempo of the
  music. Some of the scenes are: a mushroom, a flying eye, a glass and
  capsules, a scene with bouncing sphere (looks alike to radiosity, but I
  don't think it is), a snowman standing in a little temple (or?). There
  are countless other scenes, too.

     The music is plain and fast; one can say the same for the video.
  Transagression 3 is kind of 'raw' but very energetic.

                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Scene Dirt
    News & Rumors
  By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- scene.org Hard Drive Is Full -=-
     There have been reports that the famous scene service is having
  storage problems.  For more information, mail staff@scene.org.


  -=- GFX Needed for a 100kb Game -=-
     Gedeon of Paradise Studios is looking for some 2D graphics for a
  100kb game to be presented at Inscene 2000 next week.  E-mail Gedeon
  for details:  gedeon@cyberdude.com

  -=- Underground Conference 4gw Results -=-
     The results for the Underground Conference have been posted.  For
  information, visit the results page.  (Anyone got an English
  Translation?)
  http://uc4gw.untergrund.net/results.txt (german)

  -=- Sista Vip Looking for Pixlers -=-
     Sista Vip is looking t make some demos, bus seems to be short on
  artists.  If you're interested, take a look at their website, or contact
  Thx:  Sista_Vip@yahoo.com
  http://www.sistavip.exit.de/

                --Coplan


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


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Call to Keyboards
    New Topic:  Music Packs Out-Of-Date
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- New Topic: Music Packs Out-Of-Date -=-
     I made a discovery several months ago:  Phluid is still alive!

     When Immortal Coil broke up, a long time friend of mine, Subliminal,
  joined the legendary group.  I was quite surprised to know it still
  existed.

     For those of you who may be new to the scene, or for the ignorant,
  Phluid has been around for many years.  It's one of the old skool
  music groups, like Kosmic.  They are the musical brance of ACiD, which
  is well known for it's ANSI and ASCII art of old.  At one time, Phluid
  was a great music group, and perhaps they still are.  But I couldn't
  tell you, because I don't have the means to download their music packs.

     Phluid has a very interesting philosophy:  If you release music in
  packs, people will get exposed to the less known trackers as they
  download the packs for the well known trackers.  A keen philosophy, and
  that is how many of Phluid's trackers ever got recognized in the
  mainstream.  And it worked too, but only because at the time this trend
  was started, mods were maybe 2 and 3k.

     So I went to the Phluid website, because I was curious about the new
  music from Subliminal.  I fear that I was unable to download his song,
  because it was part of a huge music pack.  Actually, the July pack is
  divided into two packs, each about 26 MB.  Unfortunately, both packs are
  labeled the same:  "These packs include releases from our new member,
  Ubik, and also a guest release from Rimbo.  Musicians featured in this
  pack include:  Bibby // JelloKnee // Kneko // kX^mode // :m.zero //
  patientzero // RS3 // Subliminal // Troll // Ubik."

     Very respectible bunch of musicians, but I don't have the resources to
  download a 26MB pack, let alone two of them.  Tracks are very large
  these days.  I've seen tracks out there that are larger than 5 MB each,
  and it is assumed that these are the tracks that make these packs so
  huge.  Unfortunately, I only have a 56k connection, and too much other
  stuff to be doing.  I wouldn't mind downloading a pack once, but every
  month or two?

     The method is a bit out-of-date, don't you think?


     You're opinions here, please.

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Link List
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Featured Site:  Fusion Music Crew
                  http://members.home.nl/cyrex/
  Writeup By:     Coplan

  I havn't had too much chance to browse around, but this is a new group
  from what I understand.  The web page is clean and easy to navigate.
  The group is small, but it looks like it's got a lot of potential.  They
  got quite a few releases at the moment, so jump on over there and check
  them out.

  Demo Groups:

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

  Music Groups:

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

  Others:

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

  DiskMags / SceneMags:

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

  FTPs:

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


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

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

     To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message
  to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line <your e-mail>" in
  the message text. You will then be asked to confirm your addition to the
  mailing list.  Expect a new issue during the first weekend of each
  month.

     To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to
  "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "unsubscribe static_line <your e-mail>" in
  the message text. Your subscription will then be removed.

     If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware
  that we will format your article with two spaces at the beginning and one
  space at the end of each line.  Please avoid foul language and high ascii
  characters.  Contributions should be mailed to Coplan
  (coplan.ic@rcn.com).

     See you next month!

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