ooooo a a o48888P"""78 8b. ,p q8 88a 48K 8 ,poo888ooP' ,oo88o o' q. d8b d888b 78888oooo. dP' `888' d8"' `88 `8888888q 48b 48P' `88 `""""8888 Y88 ,8' 88 d88 7 d88P d8P 8oo oo88 V88. `88o. ,o888 88 Y88b Y88. ,8D / / `5488888"' `78b. `"88888'`8o q888 `88m `Y88888P / / 8888 / / \------------------------- 88 8D --------------------------------/ / \ \---------------- o ,d888888 ----------------------------------/ \ \ February `888 888 888 \ \ 1998 888 `"' d8888oo, \ \ 888 `888' Y88P,d888b. dP' `88 66 \ \ 888 q8b 88P 8888'`888 88b,,,,, 88 Subscribers \ \ 888888 7b 88' 888' `88 88'`"""78P ---------------\ \ 88 88888b dP ,88. 88; 88, 78b, .,p --------------------\ 7888P 88888P ,8888b. a888. a888 `888888P' ascii by: ZXPKNOBB --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Columns: In Tune -- Virt's "The Great Revolt" Screen Lit Vertigo -- Ninefour by Profuse (party-version) Features: Abort, Retry, Fail? -- Static Line's Future IMPORTANT MESSAGE -- Group Advertisment Now Open Closing Credits: --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I'm sad. As our distribution list increases, for some reason, our issue size tends to decrease. Why is that? Setec has one theory having to do with the inactivity of our readers. We're not on a very good path to becoming a quality magazine without contributions. I sound like a charity, but please give. With this issue, our 8th issue, I am now opening the issue to public advertising allowing that we get some sort of contribution. Check out my article simply titled "Important Message" for details. A _lot_ of our staff writers seem to be lacking in moral support. If nothing else, write in and say you miss that column about software reviews...or you miss the interview columns. I gotta be honest, it seems like we're writing to a wall sometimes. Are you all out there? Well, on with the issue. I'm reviewing Virt's "The Great Revolt" in In Tune this month. Damn good song, and well worth a public review. Check it out. You want the current scoop in the demo ring? Check out seven's review of "Ninefour" by Profuse. Finally, read the two articles by Setec and myself about the future of Static Line. Don't let it all go to waste so early on. If no one cares, than the scene truly is dying. -- Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Virt's "The Great Revolt" By: Coplan and SiN ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- First, let me give you some follow-up. Last month, I reviewed a song by Natasha B. Thompson (aka: technobot). Because of the review, Natasha earned an invitation to join Immortal Coil. She went through the application process with flying colors, and is now a member. Just goes to show, it doesn't hurt to share your tune with people. =P Moveing on.... This month's victim was introduced to me by a fellow group member. Until I've heard this tune, I have never heard any of Virt's music. In fact, I think I've only ever seen him once on #trax. Nevertheless, I never neglect a recommendation and I downloaded the tune. Need I say more than that right now? Virt apparently comes from a background of MIDI and real-time music. He has examples of some of his MIDI tunes on his site as well as some more tracks. His website is based at http://listen.to/virt. Check it out. "The Great Revolt" is an orchestral peice, to be expected soon is a chiptune and a Big Band piece (hopefully "real" big band -- 24 piece). -=- Coplan -=- Under normal conditions, I would probably attack the sample set. However, I have been in contact with Virt, and he assures me that there will be a newer version with higher resolution samples. In many songs, it wouldn't make that much of a difference (especially with the electronic styles). However, in an orchestral piece or a rock piece where instruments are readilly recognized, it makes all the difference. Virt has realized this, and I commend him for offering me a higher resolution pack. Keep in mind, in this day and age, if the song is too large, you can always release it as an MP3. As far as these particular samples though, I will have to point out a few minor details. The first is the choice of snare samples. Notice he has both a roll and a snare hit that are matched. I've seen this often, but not often enough. Having a seperate sample for your drum roll is probably the best and clearest way to have your drum rolls. It's much more realistic. His Choir samples are also the best that I've heard to date. However, in every good sample set, there are always a few downfalls. Granted, I can tell what the clarinet and horn samples are supposed to be, but I imagine better representations of such instruments. The french horn is a different story. To me, the french horn sounds more like a low string sample (drop it a few octaves). That tremello violin makes up for it though (I grabbed that one myself -- don't worry virt, you'll get credit for it). Other good samples include that harp set, and of course we can't forget the Pizzicato Base, though I would use it as a plucked base for that up and comeing big band song. Now, onto the song itself. The first time I listened to this song, I accidentally disabled stereo, and I was still happy with the introduction. Then, I listened to it in stereo. That makes it. It seems such a simple thing, but the way the chimes shift back and forth at the beginning helps slip you into a trance. Things moveing around your head tend to do that...so mess with the panning, but don't over-do it (I feel the need to mention "Day in a Life" by the Beetles). Notice the Pizzicato strings come in with panning as well. Though I personally think that the full left and full right method of panning is slightly out of date, it is effective. Watch the percussion. Watch as Virt slips that Snare Roll sample in to help out the realism. To add to the effect, notice the careful placement of the tiny bells as they mimic the lead in certain places. Let me take a brief minute here to mention the dynamics of his lead instrument at this part, the flutes and oboes. It's a good lead, but that's not my point here. You'll notice different interpretations of this lead throughout the song. Though it isn't exactly the same lead, you'll notice its character. Now, comes one of the best transitions I've heard in a very long time. The mimic of the bells starts it off. The harps, they start low and soft, suggesting distance. Then, they get louder, and higher pitched -- closer. Cymbol Crash, lead instrument changes, key changes slightly...more evil, more mysterious. We're introduced to the antagonist of this song. We get to see a little into the ways of what I envision as some sort of wizard -- but it could be I just play too many role playing games. =) Seriously though, notice the continuous brawl of low horns and the pizzicato strings playing in a key that seems just plain off key. That's important to makeing this part work. The best example of this that I can think of is the closing song to id software's "Doom." For those of you who havn't beeten the game, or just don't remember it, it starts out with a playful scene of a bunny. Happy music that makes you want to dance in the meadow is played. The camera pans a little to the left, and you see the city burning. The music turns evil -- out of key, out of tune...just ugly. But that's the intention. As in this case, the music isn't really out of tune, it just seems that way because Virt picked a very good key for the "evil character." Over a few turns of events involving that incredible harp work, and the dramatic use of the timpany, we are thrown into yet another scene in this epic fantasy by order 18. Back to the initial key -- its safe to come out now, this is our good character. The piano has yet another rendition of the chorus, the characteristic theme that carries the song. To anchor its importance, low strings jump in to compliment the piano. The strings carry a simple riff, only two notes, six short hits in all. Yet what is important to realize here is that such a simple thing can maintain interest, and in this case, unity in a song. Please don't overlook such opportunities as these. Also, don't go throwing riffs randomly into songs. If a riff doesn't sound perfect to you, chances are, it won't sound nearly as good to anyone else. Now let me jump ahead to order 28. Don't skip everything in between, because it is very important to the outcome of the song. This represents a confrontation between our two characters thus far, the good and the evil. Evil are the wierd off key sounding parts of the song while good is everything else thus far. When they meet, the key won't sound right, will it? It's possible to make two opposites fit, To understand this, we actually have to jump back to order 27 where we get a lead-in into this part. The evil character is finishing up his arrogant speech...and the hero starts in with his strings. A fine transition. Now the confrontation which is actually split across two orders, 28 and 29. In 28, the higher pitched trumpets (good) carry the primary role. In 29, they fade, allowing the lower pitched strings (evil) to mock the trumpets. Effective, eh? It also serves as a transition to the next part. The next part is characteristically very different. I assume from the way it sounds that good one, because it is a peaceful song, one you would see at the end of a battle...but only when our hero wins. If the evil side won, we would have some sort of mysterious or hate-filled music. Let's analyze the moods. First, we have relief starting at order 30. We have a low key lead, and not too high pitched. The flutes serve primarily as a compliment to the lead. They strike in to assure the lead instrument that its presence is welcomed. In order 32, we have victory. The percussion picks up, we have much more resounding instruments, demanding attention. Much higher engergy here with both the instrument selection and the character of the leads. The timpany and crashes strike to emphasize key points of the tune. If this were a speach, the speaker would say each of these parts loudly and quickly, followed by a pause. Perhaps he might even strike his fist on the table. THIS...THIS is Emphasis! Order 34: it is safe to return home now, the war is over. The percussion is cut back, the emphasis is no longer present. There's no point to be made within the song here. The piano part that follows doesn't yield to much commentary, at least in my opinion. Dynamically, this section of the song isn't anything special. I will say that it is nice, but I personally feel it could have been left out, at least in the state it resides now. Virt could've cut right to the part where the flutes come in. Order 40, there's that emphasis again. Now, it is carried by the hit of the low notes in the piano, and the volume changes within the strings. Even when it isn't so dramatic after order 43, the emphasis remains. Listen to the timpany. The effect would be lost of the timpany was lost. From order 47 to the end, this section can be translated two ways. The first is a place to put closeing credits. The other, and the one I prefer, is to remind the evil antagonist never to return, because our hero will be ready. And finally, the introduction to our quick and resound final note. Nice. So what's my point? Why do I keep pulling out the good and evil characters in this song? Because this is an epic tale told through music. Though many of you may never write an epic orchestral piece, there's lots to be learned from one. The first is how a mood can be easily created by simply changing the pitch or volume of an instrument. Higher notes and louder notes tend to be more demanding, closer, much more heroic. Lower pitches and softer notes tend to be drawn back, mysterious, much more distant. Sharp, quick notes like pizzicato strings tend to be bouncy, almost as if it is dancing around. Long notes are sloth, dumb-witted and far more mysterious. Woodwind instruments such as a flute or a clarinet tend to be calming and soothing. Brassy instruments are triumphant, arrogant, even confident. Percussion can be both calming and confident depending on how it is used. Play a snare very softly and smoothly (like a tight drum roll), it can be soothing. Play it sharp, quick and loud with slight pauses between hits, it is triumphant. See what I'm getting at? Music should represent a mood. There should be emotion, feeling in a song. Many of you aren't getting that. If you noticed, I was very excited when doing this review. See what music does to me? I assure you, I didn't smoke up, and I'm not drunk. It's the music that excites me! It's powerful, don't forget that. --Coplan Listening Info: Coplan: IT 2.14 useing default Interwave drivers; Koss Mixing Headphones and his home stereo. SiN: IT 2.15 useing MMX PNP drivers; volume ramping (@48kHz); MikIT; Senheiser Studio-Reference Headphones and his home stereo. Song Information: Title: "The Great Revolt" Author: Jacob Kaufman (Virt) Filename (zipped/unzipped): v-revolt.zip / v-revolt.it File Size: 604k Source: http://members.xoom.com/virt99/mods/v-revolt.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. SiN and 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! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo "Ninefour" by Profuse (party-version) Sub Title By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 2nd place at Contest'99 ftp://demo.cat.hu/scene/DEMO.'99/Contest.'99/DEMO/ninefour.zip System requirements: Nothing mentioned in the info-file. Doesn't like EMS, use XMS-only. Video: 320*200*[32-24-16-15-8 bit] Music: Useless soundsystem used, so almost any musiccard will do. 5.7 MB harddisk. Test Machine: PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0) Dos: works in XMS-only Win: Doesn't work in a dos-box, use "Restart to dos". The demo: It's a fast-paced demo, that makes good use of the high-color mode. The few 3D-objects are heavy blurred, such as the spike-ball and the nice morphing tunnel during the credits. The greetings are shown at the very beginning of the demo, between the inzooming Profuse-picture and the blur-wobbling Ninefour-screen. A rubber-like pillar is shown during the greetings, as in Gateways/Trauma, only this pillar is transparent. Some good 2D-effects are shown too: the effect that looks like a cross-over between a tunnel and textured 2D-blobs, and the polar-effect that is shown during the even-faster-moving lyrics. Some minor Bad Things: The "moving between a textured floor & ceiling" looks rather low-res (like 160*100*32bit), and I really hate it when text is shown but moves too fast to read (You can press pause to freeze the screen, but the demo will continue running). The music: Between the Profuse-titlescreen and the greetings, the words "Techno-feeling" & "Techno-style" are shown, and this describes the music somewhat. Repeating, lots of drums, basses & electrical beeps, but with more melody than I expect from techno (As far as my music-knowledge goes, it's more like dance). Most effects are not very "synchronizable", but the few white flashes follow the beats, and a new effect is accompagnied by a new "melodic" theme. It fits the demo, and I really like it. Overall: This is one well-designed piece of bits. Nothing ground-breaking, but hey, how many demos are? Quote from the way-to-fast-flashing lyrics: "We are not going to change the world of demos". Maybe they aren't, but I would sure like to see some more stuff from Profuse in the future. Random remarks: - What does nine-four stands for? Anyone? - The first '99 parties are over. Lets hope for a good demo-year. - Maybe next month a review of an Ambience'99 winner. --Seven --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Abort, Retry, Fail? Static Line's Future By: Jesper Pedersen / Setec ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- This is the first time in three issues that I have contributed to this magazine. If you page down a few times you will notice that I am listed as a "staff writer". If you browse through the list you will probably notice lots of names of people who have never really written anything for Static Line. Now consider this: if a staff writer is someone who contributes to each third magazine, and Static Line has ten or so "regular" writers, then this is gonna be one damn slim magazine. And this is something I see coming already. During the last few issues the number of articles has decreased noticably. While I could choose to blaim it all on a couple of non-productive coloumnists and staff writers, this just would not hit the spot. I think the real problem is the lack of feedback from you - the readers. In the days of TraxWeekly (no pun intended) there was a significant amount of articles by the readers in each magazine. In fact most of the articles were written by people who just had something on their mind, not nescessarily being a regular writer for the mag. But I fail to recall a single article in Static Line written by a non-regular contributor. Without any comments/articles by all you subscribers the quality of this magazine will continue to decrease. This has a negative impact on staff writers, who will feel that they just cannot be bothered to contribute anything, resulting in even lower quality, less subscribers, less people to contribute anything, ... So. To wrap it all up - we need some articles from all of you. Abort, Retry, Fail? I am hoping we can retry. --Setec --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- IMPORTANT MESSAGE Group Advertisment Now Open By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- This is our 8th issue. I feel that it is only fair now to explain exactly why this project was started. First a brief history. Static Line was created, at least in concept, well over 10 months ago...almost a year. The concept was created at the route of Immortal Coil, the group of which I proudly claim to be a member. With the help of other groups such as Kosmic and Cryptic Stench Records, we were able to turn our dream into a reality. We have since picked up many staff members, and many readers. This magazine is well on its way to becoming the quality magazine that we dream of. But I will be the first to admit that we still have a long way to go. From this point on, I will freely allow any group to advertise in Static Line. The full intention of this magazine is to bring the scene back together. This is one way to do that. So, feel free to make Static Line your home. Update the rest of the readers as to the latest going ons, the latest releases. There are only two catches (and they are simple). The first is that there is a 30 line limit. This should be plenty of space for most of you to give us a brief look into your group. The second isn't so easy. In order to be able to advertise, someone in your group must write an article every other advertisment. So it's simple. Say someone in your group writes an article for us, you can advertise in any two issues in the future. This doesn't have to be a regular column, it doesn't even have to be technical. Just a random article having to do with the scene. Go interview someone that has never been interviewed for us. Introduce a new tracking application. Write your opinion about the scene. Whatever, doesn't matter. Why am I doing this? It's simple. This provides an incentive for many of you to write articles for us. Not only that, but it allows the rest of us to discover new demos or music. Maybe even trackers or coders that are new to us. It creates a two way street to unity. Static Line can grow as a quality anchor to the scene, and you can depend on it to help you participate in the scene. It's up to you. Do you want to remain unnoticed? Take advantage of the situation. --Coplan P.S. Please note that C.S.R. and Immortal Coil, who participate in the magazine every month, and Kosmic, who provides us with this server, may advertise at any time. --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@thunder.temple.edu Assistant Editors: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@ironweb.com Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net Web Manager: Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@kosmic.org Columnists: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@thunder.temple.edu Calvin French / frenchc@cadvision.com Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@kosmic.org Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net Setec / Jesper Pederson / setecjp@hotmail.com Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be SiN / Ian Haskin / sin_@netcom.ca Staff Writers: Acell / Jamie LeSouef / jlesouef@melbpc.org.au Darkheart / Zach Heitling / darkhart@san.rr.com Psychic Symphony / psychic@esoterica.pt Setec / Jesper Pederson / setecjp@hotmail.com Technical Support: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.ic.i7.net/statline ftp://demo.dyn.ml.org/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line" in the message text. You will then be asked to confirm your addition to the mailing list. To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "unsubscribe static_line" 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 void foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions should be mailed to Coplan (coplan@thunder.temple.edu). See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--