_//\\________________________________________________________________________
_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_____________________________________ February, 2001
__\\_________________________________________________________________________
\\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 195 Subscribers
_____________________________________________________________________________


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Table Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Opening:
           Message From the Editor
           Letters From Our Readers
     Features:
     Columns:
        Music:
           In tune -- "Travels in Blue" by Smash
           Retro Tunage -- "Aeons of Notes" by Yannis
        Demo:
           Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Chrome" and "Lego Basics"
           Intro Watch -- "Five Cigar Coctail" and "Peyote"
        General:
           Editorial -- Part of the Scene?
           Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene
        Closing:
           Credits

--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Well, what can I say, it's been a hell of a month.

     For those of you who tried to subscribe last month, you might have
  noticed that you couldn't, or that you at least had problems.  We had
  some issues with our "mailman" listserv daemon this past month, but they
  have been resolved, and its business as usual.  You can resume with your
  subscription modifications as you need to.

     In addition to all the things that have been happening scene wise, I
  personally havn't had a very good month.  I don't need to get into
  details, but lets just say that things are finally starting to clear up.
  It is my hope that next months issue won't be so short, as this issue is
  smaller than our latest few issues.

     Regardless, I think that you will find this issue pretty interesting.
  There are no special features this month, but our reviewers managed to
  pick out a few good things for you to check out.  All-in-all, I would
  say that things are going pretty good, considering we just finished
  January.  After all, isn't January that time in the demoscene where
  nothing happens?

  One thing that I am very proud of is the fact that we are only five
  members away from being a good healthy 200!  Help us find those 5 readers.
  It will only help the magazine to thrive.

     Enjoy!

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Letters From Our Readers
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Letter from Smash -=-

     Hey.. I want to lend my opinion to Psitron's article about moving the
  scene away from windows. Let me explain why exactly this is a bad idea.

     The scene is on windows because 99% of pcs come with windows
  installed, and this will not change in the forseeable future. Also,
  virtually all games produced for pc are for windows, and virtually all
  commercial pc art/sound packages, etc.

     It really doesn't matter about the features of an OS, as long as it
  isn't unsuited to graphics and sound applications. much more important
  is the number of people using it and developing on it. When the c64 was
  computer of choice for most home users, scene was on c64.. when amiga
  was machine of choice, scene was on amiga. when pc and DOS was machine
  of choice, scene was on pc/dos. and now, home users are using pc and
  windows.. and guess what the scene uses.

     Also linux is NOT a great OS to develop demos on. 3d card drivers are
  often much less updated and much worse than windows equivalents. Running
  an opengl app on a linux machine, then just recompiling on windows and
  running it, the speed difference is very noticable. I've experienced
  this first hand (coding for linux+windows). At least windows is very
  supported by hardware makers, which greatly improves performance.

     You want to close off the scene, make it a tiny minority environment
  which a few techie nerd kids will get involved in maybe if they manage
  to drag themselves off their muds for a second? Then move to linux or
  beos or freedos. Want to make a demoscene where no-one new will ever
  come in? Move to demOS.

     Coders will get the best out of whatever OS they work with. What is
  more important, I think, is that enough people can actually see our
  works, And I don't just mean other demosceners but average
  internet-using home pc owners. people have to be able to just come
  across a demo, and run it on their pc and get interested in the scene,
  and for the average person this means using windows. we want the scene
  to grow, not close it off. By suggesting a move to a platform which just
  isn't very popular, it's not adhering to any "oldschool ideal" or trying
  to regain some kind of "golden era". In the "golden era", on the amiga
  of early 90s, it was a time when demos were made for the platform that
  everybody used - kids could just discover the scene and get involved.
  People were amazed by demos back then because they were the most
  impressive things on their computer.

     If anything, I'd rather see people developing more console demos -
  and making them available so people can just get them on cd, stick them
  in their ps2 and watch them, no problems.

     The fact is, whatever people may wish for, the people who decide are
  the ones coding the good demos, and at the moment they are all using
  windows.

     Hoping for a demoscene that is available to all not just a bunch of
  nerds.

                --Smash


  -=- Letter from Dilvish -=-

     It is clear to many that Windows lacks that real-time support and
  stability to provide a good home for the demo (or video game) community.
  It is unclear, however, where we should turn to.  Other operating
  systems lack focus - attempting to be all things for all people, making
  too many compromises between ease-of-use and functionality, and missing
  the essential fast access to hardware, and real-time signal sharing
  features that are a must for anybody involved in demos, music, or
  gaming.

     Here then are the essential features that we must search out or
  provide before flocking to a new home:

     * Hardware support
     * 3D accelerators
     * Soundcards
     * External device I/O for MIDI or game control
     * Not locked to specific hardware (processors, video architectures,
        RAM, storage devices)
     * Modular toolsets for developers including
     * 3D libraries
     * Audio libraries (wave mixing, dsp, format conversion)
     * Modular O-O patterns, datatypes, etc.. (someone still has to code a
        flexible tracker)
     * Scriptable architecture (remember how cool QuakeC was?  DemoC
        anyone?)
     * skinnable XML-based GUI widgets
     * Efficient access to low-level devices, without locking ourselves to
        any specific card (remember all those demos that require the now
        defunct gravis?  treasures lost for most of us these days...)

  The most important feature:
     * MODULARITY - new soundcards and video cards come out all the time.

     It has to be EASY to support our OS.  We have to be flexible and
  lovable enough that over-looking support would be CRAZY on the part of
  manufacturers.  That means we have to design the architecture carefully,
  or forget about it.

     Of course, we should not forget network connectivity (multi-player is
  great), text editing and layout (documentation, obviously, but what
  about cool layouts for text and graphics in game menu screens?  XML?
  SVG?), or data management (strategy games or RPG's often require a good
  database to back up the cool interface).

     I think it's possible that an OS designed specifically for demos,
  gamers, and Audio/Video types would also do a great job at anything else
  you'd like to throw at it.  The difference is, we don't make choices
  that limit what we can do in terms of real-time effects, multi-tasking,
  or critical performance in order to enable a spreadsheet program to save
  it's data.

     Many projects have launched with similar goals and met a quick demise
  because they did not plan out their architecture carefully beforehand,
  or did not realize the scope of what they had planned.


  Here are some things we must also consider:

     Many of the elements we need have already been built, and are
  available to us freely.  There are even GPL'ed OS kernels, some of them
  specifically tailored for real-time systems.  We should decide what we
  can use, what we can wrap temporarily until a good replacement is built,
  and what we must build ourselves.

     We cannot do it alone.  Open source seems the ONLY way for a bunch of
  different demo-makers from around the globe to collaborate on a single
  masterpiece of design and engineering.  There will be MANY facets of the
  architecture and design that no single person may be able to comprehend
  entirely on their own.. for this reason, a modular, collaborative
  structure is essential.

     Unix pipes: the best example to date of a large system of tools that
  truly communicate and work together well... why?  Because they don't
  know anything about each other.  They have an input stream, and an
  output stream.  They do not call each other directly.. they do ONE
  THING, and do it VERY WELL.  That philosophy is one that we have to
  adopt to make such a diverse collaboration a reality.  They did it with
  text - we can do it with MIDI, wave data, and graphics - or anything
  else that might come along later.

     The vision here is freedom from windows.  Freedom from any particular
  platform, rather, as all of them will have their own set of
  shortcomings.  We need to build a system that can be custom fit for the
  individual, or even an individual program.  If no process is currently
  in need of a bulky GUI (user likes textmode access), GREAT.. don't load
  the damn GUI overhead.  If they need it for something, it should be a
  keystroke away, just as simple as launching any other program... a GUI
  is simply a viewer framework.. not the foundation of an OS.

     There are standards we can work with that will make our data
  sharable, and as other developers flock to support those standards, they
  will be supporting us without even realizing it.  Without even trying.
  Freedom can be ours.

     Please direct comments, feature suggestions, and rants to
  ostechdev@yahoo.com.  Someone is listening.  I promise.

                --Dilvish


  -=> Reply from Coplan:
     I have always been a big supporter of the Open Source community,
  especially when it has to do with Linux.  Linux has grown, and it will
  continue to grow -- but will it grow in the right direction for the
  demoscene?  At this point, it's a mute point, as there isn't enough
  single-user usage of Linux.  There are a lot of systems out there with
  Linux, but most are network servers.  If you are one of those people
  that has taught themselves linux, and if you program (or write perl or
  shell scripts), I urge you to find a project to get involved in, or even
  create:

     http://sourceforge.net

     Yes, as I said, there aren't many people useing Linux as a primary
  medium, but there are two reasons for that:  Ease of use and hardware
  support.  If you can help narrow any of those gaps, I garuntee, one more
  person will be willing to use it.  And one day, we might have our next
  OS for the scene to expand into -- and you can say that you helped it
  get there.

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  In Tune
     "Travels in Blue" by Smash
  By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  What can I say, I've always been a Smash fan, and he's topped my list
  more than once.  So, I was quite happy to hear from him the other day,
  where I could ask him to direct me to his latest music.  Glad I ran into
  him!  I have a very inspirational tune for you guys this month:
  "Travels in Blue" one of my favorite Smash tunes to date.

  With very few exceptions, Smash did everything right with "Travels in
  Blue".  The song is not too loud, it's not too crazy, and it's a nice
  little mellow piece that you can toss in the background and play while
  you work.

  By tradition, I don't read a song description until after I've heard the
  song.  So, when I heard that the opening was a bit slow.  I thought that
  might dictate the mood of the rest of the tune.  Well, order 12 kicked
  in, and I realized I was a bit wrong.  The tune continued to be mellow
  and dreamy throughout, but not quite the way I thought it would be.
  Based entirely on the opening few patterns, I would've told you it was
  an ambient tune.  Again, I would've been wrong.

  At order 12, we get what I like to call a "kick-in" transition.  It's
  not a technical term, but I think it describes it well.  A kick-in is
  the type of transition where a lot of instruments are introduced at
  once.  The most important instruments to introduce at this time are
  always the percussion instruments.  By doing this, and without changing
  the tempo/speed of the song itself, you feel like the song is a bit more
  lively.  A kick-in transition was well suited for this tune, and smash
  picked a good set of samples to kick in with.  His percussion samples
  are just perfect for this tune.  The snare is something I like to point
  out.  There are a lot of different kind of snares out there, and I think
  that one which sounds a bit muffled (throw a few sheets in there) sounds
  great in a jazzy little tune like this.  Yes, the percussion is
  repetative, but not without reason.  As you will see throughout the
  song, he does know when to stop, when to start, and when to change the
  percussion.

  The baseline is one of the coolest parts of the song.  If you have the
  ability, crank your base.  If you have listened to my advice from the
  past -- you got your computer hooked up to a high quality amplifier, and
  this shouldn't be a problem.  If you don't listen to my advice -- that
  cheezy little set of PC speakers with the 4" subwoofer isn't going to do
  anything for you.  Again, the baseline is repetative, but it does
  change when it needs to.  My interest in the baseline has to do entirely
  with the way it controls the mood of the song.  A quick baseline like
  this, along with the fast paced percussion, help to liven up a song.
  Percussion and tempo aren't the only thing to consider for a lively
  song, folks.

  Order 32 comes upon us, and as I promised, the percussion fades out.
  But the baseline remains.  We got some dreamy lead instrument jumping
  into action here, and with the percussion fading to the back, it sounds
  really cool.  It sounds even cooler when the percussion (modified from
  the norm) kicks back in, and the baseline changes a bit as well.

  Now comes my slight beef with the song:  Around order 40, the strings in
  the background (the onces carrying the chord progression) seem to fade
  into the foreground off-and-on.  The baseline also tends to sound a bit
  forced, as it too does some really wierd stuff.  Yes, it does sound
  kinda cool, but I honestly don't think it fits the song very well.  This
  part could've even been cut out all together.  But, that's just my
  opinion, you might like it.

  By the time order 52 comes back around, everything is back to normal.
  It's nice to get some variety in a song, and then end where one started
  off.  That is what Smash did -- as slowly as the song began, he ends it
  the same way.  One might think it drags a bit, but the song ends very
  smoothly.

  Overall, the song is a dreamy song that makes you want to move.  As I
  said, it's great background noise if you turn the volume down a little
  bit.  But crank the volume, and you really want to move.  I can picture
  a whole bunch of my friends seriously dancing at a club to this one.
  Definately worth a download.

                --Coplan

  Song Information:
     Title:  Travels in Blue
     Author:  Smash of Fairlight
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):
        flt_013-travels_in_blue.zip / travels_in_blue.xm (XM)
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  864 kb / 1.9 MB
     Source:  http://fairlight.scene.org
     Alternate:
        ftp://ftp.scenespot.org/static_line/suppliment/travels_in_blue.zip

     "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 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!


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Retro Tunage
     Aeons of Notes by Yannis
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     Welcome to another trip to the disappearing world of mod music. Today
  I'd like to introduce you my favourite track by Yannis Brown, who was
  active in the scene for a really long and became a respected veteran.

     I can still remember the first of his tracks that I heard, it was
  just a cheesy cover tune on some song by Tori Amos, but it was enough to
  stick his name in my head so I could pay attention to his other
  releases. As I discovered Hornet archive, his songs were among the
  first I've downloaded and although there are many other good songs by
  him, I remember this one as my favourite.

     Style of the track is hard to describe - in the beginning it shows
  signs of house, but then the percussion gets more complicated and more
  attention is payed to the chord structure and leads. More dance style
  feeling is brought back by a deep bassline, that shows to be typical for
  Yannis. Over all this, the track has a very complicated structure and
  its analysis would be for a separate issue. Just take a look on the
  worked out chord structure, excellent leads - I count there to be at
  least 3 instruments alternating on the place of lead, and also slight
  but significant tempo and mood changes, often evoked by good handling
  of instrument volumes.

     With this song you can notice that isn't thrown together in few
  hours like many todays tracks tend to be. Thus if you think you would
  like to feel the oldskool feeling once again, or if you believe that this
  track can give you ideas how to improve your tracking technique, go on
  and listen to "Aeons of notes".

  Song Information:
     Title:  Aeons of notes
     Author:  Yannis Brown
     Release date:  Nov 96
     Length:  4m27s trimmed
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  ybaeon.zip/ybaeon.it
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  172k/316k
     Source:  Hornet archive
        ftp://us.hornet.org/pub/demos/music/songs/1997/y/ybaeon.zip


                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Screen Lit Vertigo
     "Chrome" by Damage and "Lego Basics" by Hybris/NEMESIS
  By:  Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- "Chrome" by Damage (party version) -=-

  Found at www.scene.org
  3th place at The Party 10 demo compo

  System requirements:
     "win32.opengl.geforce" (does this means it's 100% Geforce only, or
  that it  wants certain extensions, or just any T&L card? Who knows...).
  7 MB HD

  Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB128, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98

  The Credits:
     code: ther
     music: db
     gfx: adam

  The Demo:
     January is a bad month to get new demos, only (checking Hugi party
  calendar) two parties, one of which is non-PC, and the other is past the
  deadline for this Static Line issue. So I'll just keep reviewing TP
  demos this month :) Personally, I like the third place (Chrome by
  Damage) better than the top two. Crome is a heavy 3D demo, not the
  camera-flight kind but the 3D-texture-effect variant, a bit like Wonder
  or Tesla/Sunflower. There are lots of standard effects like transparant
  tunnels, morphing motion-blurred objects, wavy textures and the like,
  but there are also some more original parts. For example, at the end
  there's a morphing blob whose edges are more visible than the inside,
  and several of these outlines are overlayed. Looks nice. In fact, there
  are a lot of parts shown very quickly at the end: a discoball, some
  transparant nutcrackers, the inside of a torus... There's a bit of
  space-station design, with cross-hairs and pseudo-technical terms like
  "proton spetrometer" or "radial docking port" sprinkled here and there,
  but it doesn't really form a solid whole.

     Besides the multitude of textures, there's a nice Chrome-logo at the
  start, but no other graphics. The music is a dnb track with enough
  variation, with  some more quiet parts between the pure rhythm parts.
  The syncing is almost lacking at the start, but grows better towards the
  end, with the human model rotating and the parts switching to the beat.
  Just like the other demos in the top-3, Chrome uses an MP3 (which makes
  syncing harder).

  Overall:
     A lot of effects in Chrome can be summarized by "done before, but
  still good-looking". I also liked the variation near the end. A bad
  point is that Damage appearently followed the "50% white"-rule: if less
  than half the screen is white, keep adding more flares and textures.
  Maybe they did it on purpose for the bigscreen, on which darker colors
  often get lost, but on a monitor it's really overly bright :/ Luckily
  the things that are visible still make this a demo worth watching.



  -=- Lego Basics by Hybris/NEMESIS (final version) -=-

  Found at www.hybrisNEMESIS.com
  2nd place at The Party 10 demo compo

  System requirements:
     No info file found...
     Windows, 5 MB HD, and a 3D card to get > 1 fps.

  Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB128, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98

  The credits:
     Code: Bender
     Models: Bender & Hawk
     Music: Trauma & Dunkel
     Maps: Beyond

  The Demo:
     As the title says: the theme of this demo is lego, the little
  bright-colored toy bricks 75% of the scene used to play with when we
  were kids. Such a subject is guaranteed to draw some nostalgia votes in
  a compo :) The demo starts with a lego-man, dressed in black and with
  sunglasses, who dodges some rockets that are fired at him by a simple
  lego-helicopter. The rest of the demo doesn't continue this story, but
  shows some bricks and simple objects that fall, collide and bounce. This
  is no animation, but rather real-time calculated physics (which means
  detecting the collisions of objects and give them a new direction,
  velocity and spin, based on their weight, current velocity etc). The
  result looks quite realistic, better than normal keyframed animations,
  but sometimes the objects bounce too much. The physics-part is slightly
  randomized, so it looks different each time you run the demo. There are
  also shadows, but as the invisible lightsource doesn't move, it might be
  just a hack with a simple diagonal projection. Strangely, the lego-man
  does not cast a shadow. At the end, a lot of bricks form a C64-logo, to
  remind us which platform Hybris/NEMESIS comes from.

     The music is an MP3 which starts with some mumbling singer, then
  guitars kick in together with some helicopter-sounds, and the rest is a
  kind of, hmm, techno-jazzy tune. Not bad, but not very special either.

  Overall:
     Lego Basics is mainly a technical demo, so you won't watch it very
  often. It's also quite short (2 min 30) and the landscape doesn't look
  very good. On the positive side, the whole demo runs an editable script,
  so if you know XML you can edit LegoBasics.XML and create your own
  LEGO-demo. Further good points are the realistic physics-generated
  motions, and of course: lego :)


                --Seven


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Intro Watch
     "Five Cigar Coctail" by Replay and "Peyote" by Proxium
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Five Cigar Coctail by Replay -=-

  64k at The Party 2000
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/THEPARTY00/in64/rpl_fcc_notshown.zip

  Requires: 3d card, Windows, OpenGL

     For me, this is the best Replay intro so far. It was entered but not
  shown at The Party 2000. This is a real pity, because it could have
  ranked very high in the competition. The disk that they handed in
  was broken, and I guess the Authors were boozing somewhere when the
  organizers tried to contact them...

     The intro is a show of beautiful scenes from nature: trees, flowers,
  grass, and so on. These are not photorealistic of course, but they don't
  appear synthetic. Somehow they still have a touch of reality. They
  rather look as if they were hand-drawn. Meanwhile a poem runs line by
  line.

  This is a mood demo. This means that you have to be in a certain mood to
  like it, and people usually react to it in a love-hate way. Some of them
  are fond of it, the rest of them can't stand it. Hopefully you belong to
  the first group...


  -=- Peyote by Proxium -=-

  #1 64k at Chaos Construction 2000
  http://www.proxium.org
  requires: MMX, Windows, DirectX

     Proxium is a Russian group which is not so well-known in the
  international scene. This intro is a very promising work by them. It is
  far from perfect but it is surprising how much is squeezed into it.
  There are two musics with software synthetised samples. We are shown a
  sequence of countless 3d scenes (sewels, street lamps, walking doll,
  etc), with many textures and even still pictures. Hopefully Proxium's
  next work will reach the top in style, too, because code-wise they are
  already there.

                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Editorial
     Part of the Scene?
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  I don't find it very necessary to constantly reassure myself that I'm
  doing my part for the scene.  I hope most of you don't either.  In fact,
  no one that is reading this should be concerned about "doing their part"
  for the demoscene.  I say that not because I truly expect that you all
  bleed demoscene red (I don't know, what color is demoscene blood?).  I
  say that because every tiny little part matters.

  For me, my part is Static Line and SceneSpot (which hopefully should
  fully get off the ground soon).  I release music on occasion, and I have
  to remind myself not to overlook that.  My primary existance in the
  scene might be Static Line, but I would've never been here had it not
  been for my tracking background.  I don't claim to know the scene any
  better than anyone else, and I don't claim myself to be a veteran.  I'm
  just here, and I'm enjoying myself.  If asked, most of you wouldn't
  argue my claim to be a contributor.

     What about you?  Are you a part of the demoscene?  Can you honestly
  say you know ANYTHING about the demoscene?  In my absolute honest
  opinion, I truly believe that anyone who can explain the demoscene to
  someone else, and show examples, is a part of the demoscene -- even if
  one does not contribute anything.

     "But Coplan!  How can you allow someone to claim membership in the
  scene if they don't contribute?"

     The question is in everyone's mind as they read this, at least in some
  form or another.  The difference between your definition and my
  definition of contribution is subtle.  A song here and there is
  definately a contribution.  An article for Static Line is definately a
  contribution.  Jumping in #trax or #pixel or #code and telling giving
  someone ideas, or recommendations on their past work -- that's a
  contribution, and many people overlook that.  Many people also overlook
  the fact that someone, perhaps someone who doesn't track, downloaded the
  latest demo and played it on his/her computer.  I say that, too, is a
  contribution, because it's spreading the word.  I'd be willing to bet
  that person might have downloaded a demo or a tune, and thought it
  really cool.  Then they go grab more, and more, and pretty soon, they
  know enough about the scene to describe it to someone.  So what if they
  don't write for some mag, or write music, or code?  They are the ones
  that are viewing and listening to your work -- and don't forget that.

     I think that is the most important thing to remember when it comes to
  "The best OS for the demoscene".  The answer is simple -- the one with
  the most viewers.  The reality is that we, as scene writers, trackers,
  coders and artists, are doing what we do for an audience.  No one here
  expects to make money, so that can't be it.  And though we can't rule
  out personal satisfaction, the majority of people want to be heard (or
  seen).

     Well guess what?  You need those "non-contributors" don't you?

                    --Coplan


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

  Portals:

      Orange Juice.............................http://www.ojuice.net
      Scene.org.................................http://www.scene.org
      SceneSpot.............................http://www.scenespot.org
      CFXweb.......................................http://cfxweb.net
      Pouet.net.................................http://www.pouet.net
      Demoscene.org.........................http://www.demoscene.org
      Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de
      Demo.org...................................http://www.demo.org
      Czech Scene................................http://www.scene.cz
      Hungarian Scene........................http://www.scene-hu.com
      Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/la_scena
      ModPlug Central Resources..........http://www.castlex.com/mods
      Norvegian Scene............http://www.neutralzone.org/scene.no
      Polish Scene...........................http://www.demoscena.pl
      Russian Scene..........................http://www.demoscene.ru
      Spanish Scene............................http://www.escena.org
      Swiss Scene..............................http://www.chscene.ch

  Archives:

      Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl
      Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
      Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
      Hornet (1992-1996)........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org
      Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org
      Scene.org Austra........................ftp://ftp.nl.scene.org
      Scene.org Netherlands...................ftp://ftp.au.scene.org
      Swiss Scene FTP...........................ftp://ftp.chscene.ch

  Demo Groups:

      3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net
      3State...................................http://threestate.com
      7 Gods.........................................http://7gods.sk
      Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com
      Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain
      Addict..................................http://addict.scene.pl
      Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl
      Alien Prophets...................http://alienprophets.ninja.dk
      Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl
      Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com
      Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com
      BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net
      Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk
      Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net
      Broncs..................................http://broncs.scene.cz
      Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org
      Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org
      Cocoon..............................http://cocoon.planet-d.net
      Confine.................................http://www.confine.org
      Damage...................................http://come.to/damage
      Eclipse............................http://www.eclipse-game.com
      Elitegroup..........................http://elitegroup.demo.org
      Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed
      Fairlight.............................http://www.fairlight.com
      Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org
      Freestyle............................http://www.freestylas.org
      Fresh! Mindworks...................http://kac.poliod.hu/~fresh
      Future Crew..........................http://www.futurecrew.org
      Fuzzion.................................http://www.fuzzion.org
      GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods
      Halcyon...........................http://www.halcyon.scene.org
      Haujobb..................................http://www.haujobb.de
      Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl
      Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org
      Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net
      Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor
      Komplex.................................http://www.komplex.org
      Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com
      Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula
      Maturefurk...........................http://www.maturefurk.com
      Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar
      MOVSD....................................http://movsd.scene.cz
      Nextempire...........................http://www.nextempire.com
      Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org
      Orange.................................http://orange.scene.org
      Orion................................http://orion.planet-d.net
      Popsy Team............................http://popsyteam.rtel.fr
      Prone................................http://www.prone.ninja.dk
      Purple....................................http://www.purple.dk
      Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu
      Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay
      Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net
      Sista Vip..........................http://www.sistavip.exit.de
      Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org
      Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl
      Talent.............................http://talent.eurochart.org
      The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org
      The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net
      The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no
      TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com
      Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma
      T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org
      Unik.....................................http://www.unik.ca.tc
      Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net
      Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch
      Wipe....................................http://www.wipe-fr.org

  Music Labels, Music Sites:

      Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com
      Aural Planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com
      Azure...................................http://azure-music.com
      Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp
      BrothomStates.............http://www.katastro.fi/brothomstates
      Chill..........................http://www.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
      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
      Lackluster.....................http://www.m3rck.net/lackluster
      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.maz-sound.com
      Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm
      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.............................http://www.rbi-music.com
      Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine
      SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m
      Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev
      Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate
      Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d
      Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr
      Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila
      Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net
      Tetris....................................http://msg.sk/tetris
      Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr
      Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org
      Triad's C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org
      UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
      Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
      Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com
      Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm

  Programming:

      Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net
      Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com
      Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com
      3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com
      Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org
      Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com
      Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com
      NASM (free Assembly compiler)......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm
      LCC (free C compiler).........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32
      PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org
      3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html
      Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys
      File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org

  Magazines:

      Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag
      Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com
      Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net
      Eurochart.............................http://www.eurochart.org
      Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net
      Hugi........................................http://www.hugi.de
      Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage
      Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net
      Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org
      Shine...............................http://www.shine.scene.org
      Static Line................http://www.scenespot.org/staticline
      Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net
      TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org
      WildMag...............................http://wildmag.notrix.de

  Parties:

      Assembly (Finland).....................http://www.assembly.org
      Ambience (The Netherlands)..............http://www.ambience.nl
      Dreamhack (Sweden)....................http://www.dreamhack.org
      Buenzli (Switzerland)......................http://www.buenz.li
      Gravity (Poland)............http://www.demoscena.cp.pl/gravity
      Mekka-Symposium (Germany)...................http://ms.demo.org
      Takeover (The Netherlands).............,http://www.takeover.nl
      The Party (Denmark).....................http://www.theparty.dk

  Others:

      Demo secret parts....http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula/secret.txt
      Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net
      Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org
      #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net
      Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
      Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
      Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
      Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk
      Freax................................http://freax.scene-hu.com
      GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
      PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained
      Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org

  IRC Channels:

      Scene.........................................ircnet #thescene
      Programming.....................................ircnet #coders
      Programming....................................efnet #flipcode
      Graphics.........................................ircnet #pixel
      Music.............................................ircnet #trax
      Scene (French)..................................ircnet #demofr
      Programming (French)............................ircnet #codefr
      Graphics (French)..............................ircnet #pixelfr
      Scene (Hungarian)............................ircnet #demoscene
      Programming (Hungarian)......................ircnet #coders.hu
      Programming (German)........................ircnet #coders.ger


--=--=--
----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------
  Editor:          Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
  Columnists:      Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
                    Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
                    Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / mont@tar.hu
                    Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net
                    Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
                    Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@writeme.com
                    Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz
  Technical Consult: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@scenespot.org

  Static Line on the Web:  http://www.scenespot.org/staticline

  Static Line Subscription Management:
     http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/static_line


     If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware
  that we will format your article 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@scenespot.org).

     See you next month!

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