.Start.of.DemoNews.103..............................................Size:47,127

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                                                      |
       DemoNews Issue #103 - September 30, 1995       | Subscribers  :  1583
                    -------------                     |   Last Week  :  1564
     DemoNews is a newsletter for the demo scene.     |   Change     :   +19
 It is produced by Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com.  | Archive Size : 1158M
    Our demo archive is located under /pub/demos.     |   Last Week  : 1127M
                                                      |
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                                  <CONTENTS>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

           Uploads

           Articles

             Introduction................................Snowman
             A Rodent's Eye View of the Scene............Liam the Lemming
             4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 4.........................Snowman
             FTP'ing to ftp.cdrom.com from the UK........KJB
             Basehead is "Steppin' Out"..................GD
             Top 10 Things the Demo Scene Never See......Liam the Lemming

           Subscribing

           Closing

=-[Uploads]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=----------------------------------------------------------[File Information]-=

 1. All files listed below are on ftp.cdrom.com or one of its mirrors.
 2. Ratings are completely subjective and do not necessarily reflect opinions
    of the demo scene in general.
 3. ftp.cdrom.com too slow?  Try our mirror at ftp.luth.se.  You may even
    upload to this site under /pub/msdos/demos_upload.
 4. ftp.cdrom.com _still_ too slow?  :)  Check out DN102 for info on ftpmail.

=-------------------------------------------------------------[Demos:General]-=
Location /demos/alpha/1995        Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/../1992/lovedemo.lzh               22 **+   Love Demo (must be over 18)
/../1993/s/sldemo.lzh              173 **    Demo by Silicon Logic
/../1993/s/ssaft.lzh               448 ***   ASM93: Strumpsaft by Unexpected
/../1993/w/wacked1.zip              29 *+    Wacked One by Wacked
/../1993/w/wfdemo.lzh              243 ***   Waite Group Ad. by Future Crew
/../1993/x/xmasgrtz.lzh             68 **    Christmas Greetz! by Morbid Man
/../1994/f/f2_lib1.zip             344 ***   [1/2] TP94: Liberation by Force 2
/../1994/f/f2_lib2.zip            1205 ***   [2/2] TP94: Liberation by Force 2
/../1994/f/friends.zip             875 **+   Friends will be Friends by SLC
/../1994/f/fullintr.zip             38 *     TP94: Fastmaster Shooter
/../1994/f/fun.zip                  67 ***+  TP94: Fun by Sorrox
/a/aambient.zip                     70 ***   Ambient Intro by Antares
/a/answer.zip                       40 *+    Answer by Warlock of Amnesty
/a/arto.zip                        809 *+    Arto by Verhot
/c/cards.zip                        25 *     Cards v1.2 by Dragon Emperor
/c/cytopyge.zip                    256 [n/a] Cytopyge by Angels of Death
/e/emf_vrs2.zip                    509 ****+ ASM94: Verses (revision) by EMF
/e/ev.zip                          419 ***   Ethereal Visions by NIS
/f/fr_debut.zip                     77 ***+  Debut by Fraction
/g/gamoto.zip                       90 **    Gamoto by Debris
/g/greetro.zip                     199 **+   Happy New Year by Sunrise Prod.
/h/h!disord.zip                    271 ****  Disorder by Halcyon
/h/hobtro.zip                       10 **+   Birthro by Xenon Development
/k/kiddo.zip                       132 **    Kiddo by Apex
/l/liberfix.zip                     12 **+   TP94: Liberation (fix) by Force ][
/l/lrstro.zip                       57 **+   LarsTro by Larst
/m/mhappy95.zip                     38 **    Happy 1995 Demo by Mile
/m/mind.zip                         64 ****  TP94: Mind Crash by Spirit
/n/nitro.zip                        26 ***+  Nitro by Stereocode
/n/nooon_no.zip                   1339 ****  TP94: No by Nooon
/n/nooon_st.zip                   1170 ****+ ASM95: Stars (bugfixed) by Nooon
/n/ntro.zip                         69 *     Eroc by Lithium
/n/nytextro.zip                    115 ***   New Year's Greetings by Overlook
/p/perfect.zip                    1185 ***   Perfect Balance by Wild Style
/p/pogo.zip                          6 *     Another Snowy Day by Pogo Max
/r/ranztro.zip                      92 **+   Ranztro by The Revengers
/r/rosetro.zip                      95 ***   Rosetro #2 by Overlook
/s/semtex.zip                      410 ***+  JUH95: Semtex City by J!P
/s/sr1gwp.zip                     1464 [n/a] Super Reality by Binbou Himanashi
/t/tap-sg94.zip                    378 ***   Season's Greetings by Apollo Proj.
/t/textro.zip                      190 ****  Textro by OTM
/t/tfa-love.zip                     88 **+   Valentine Intro by TFA
/t/tucxmas.zip                      21 ***+  Xmasdemo '94 by TUC
/u/underh2o.zip                    977 ***+  GP95: Underwater by Technomancer
/x/x-mas.arj                       267 **    X-Mas by Neutron
/x/x-y-z.zip                       513 ****+ JUH95: Project XYZ by Orange
/x/xorgasm.arj                     563 ****  TP94: Xorgasm by Genuine

=--------------------------------------------------------[Demos:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/alpha             Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/bbs/e/einstein.zip                  9 Einstein by Zion
/bbs/g/gi-tough.zip                 38 The Golden Image by Tough
/bbs/h/hyp-md.arj                   38 Maniax Dream by Hypnosis
/bbs/m/mciesc.zip                   14 MCI Escapes by Subsystem
/bbs/m/methsign.zip                  7 Methodone by Extreme
/bbs/s/smaintro.lzh                 20 BBS-Intros by SMA
/bbs/s/sp_bbs.zip                   30 Kilroy by S!P
/bbs/v/vc_intro.zip                 12 Violent Crimes #2 by King Tech

=-------------------------------------------------------------[Music:General]-=
Location /demos/music             Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/disks/1995/c/cos-11d1.zip        1167 ***   [1/2] 11 Mins... by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-11d2.zip        1278 ***   [2/2] 11 Mins... by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-ep11.zip        1312 ****  [1/2] Lost in Trancen. by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-ep12.zip        1406 ****  [2/2] Lost in Trancen. by Cosmic
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-1.zip         1295 ***+  [1/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-2.zip         1215 ***+  [2/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-3.zip         1144 ***+  [3/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/ds.zip              1535 ***+  Drastic Scream by Lasse Makkonen
/disks/1995/f/f10_pck6.zip        1949 ****+ Pack 6 by Force Ten
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-1.zip        1354 ***   [1/3] Highbit 666 by various
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-2.zip        1361 ***   [2/3] Highbit 666 by various
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-3.zip         732 ***   [3/3] Highbit 666 by various
/songs/1994/mod/k/k_voyage.zip     173 ****  Voyager by Hollywood/KFMF
/songs/1994/xm/m/morph2.zip        141 **+   Metamorph part II by Vogue
/songs/1995/mod/d/deemusek.zip      78 *+    Dee Museek by DD
/songs/1995/mod/s/sr-vgnf.zip      163 ***   Vengeance & Freedom by Parallax
/songs/1995/s3m/b/beatskip.zip      10 ***   Skippin' a Beat by lp
/songs/1995/s3m/d/_dflow95.zip     184 **+   Digitize by S.A.Harteveld
/songs/1995/s3m/d/darkside.zip     173 **    Light on the Dark Side by DD
/songs/1995/s3m/d/defi-agc.zip     220 **    Against the Clock by Blackwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/d/defi-top.zip     133 ***   Top of the Mountain by Blackwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/d/devotion.zip      57 *+    Devotion 4 Motion by Decibel Duo
/songs/1995/s3m/d/digistrm.zip     103 ***   Digital Storm by DD
/songs/1995/s3m/f/fm-scrap.zip     433 ****+ Skyscraper (Remix) by Necros
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide17.zip       117 ***+  House Eey #17 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide22.lzh       273 **+   House Eey #22 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide24.lzh       131 ***   House Eey #24 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-skumth.zip     222 ***   Skulme Planer Theme by Mystical
/songs/1995/s3m/m/mo-sunse.zip     223 **+   Sunset in Seattle by Mondo
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-1.zip     319 *     House Mixes 1-4! by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-2.zip     763 *+    Undercurrent RMX by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-3.zip     416 *     Gothic by Gato the Phat Cat
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-4.zip     366 *+    Agents of Testing by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nitree.zip       112 **+   The Night Tree by Lord Blanka
/songs/1995/s3m/o/oct-coma.zip     101 **+   Coma by Octoque
/songs/1995/s3m/p/planetx.zip      296 ***   Planet X by Darkwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_uknow.zip     185 *     You Know What You Are by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_who.zip       163 *     Who Was In My Room.. by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_zany.zip       79 *+    Animaniacs Theme by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-7wndr.zip     150 ***+  Seven Wonders by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-cry.zip       102 ***+  Cathartic Rain by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-decon.zip     207 ***   Deconstruction by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-dlivr.zip     281 ****  Deliverance by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-dscrd.zip     199 **+   Dischord by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-flux.zip      154 ***   Kinetic Flux by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-galv.zip      145 **+   Galvanized by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-hiway.zip      72 ****  Highway Song by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-homln.zip     196 **+   Homeland by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-lumin.zip     115 ***   Luminosity by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-magic.zip      53 ***   Magic Carpet by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-metro.zip     175 ***+  Metropolis by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-oracl.zip      85 ****  Oracle by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-soc.zip       159 ****  Stream of Conciousness by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-spell.zip     120 ****  Spellbound by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-trans.zip     104 ***   Transcendence by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-vison.zip      92 **+   Tunnel Vision by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-warp.zip       94 **    Hyper Space by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-wotl.zip       88 ***   Way of the Leaf by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rendezv4.zip     217 ****  Rendez-vous part IV by the Zapper
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rh_tod.zip       228 *+    Temple of Dreams by Red Horizon
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rh_vp2.zip        53 **    Virulent Psychosis by Red Horizon
/songs/1995/s3m/s/satori.zip       115 **+   Satori by Incarnate/Guild
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_bug.zip     150 ***   Scatterbug by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_epi.zip     207 **    Epileptic machine by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_ful.zip      99 ***   Full circle by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-kryah.zip      163 **    Lands of Kryah by Ded Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-piano2.zip     154 ***   Death Symphony by TFH
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-s0ul.zip        69 *     Soul by TFH
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-skybug.zip      69 ***   Skybuggy by Ded Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tearsvic.zip     212 *+    Tears of victory by Populus
/songs/1995/s3m/t/thestudy.arj      94 **    In the study by Hector
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tlgrae.zip       296 ***   Graen. Masterpiece by Lord Blanka
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tmrmx-is.zip     114 *+    Texture Met. Model Flat by JPF
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tr_vulca.zip      54 *     Vulcan by Tread
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tw_mods.zip      190 **    [4 Songs] by Tuffe
/songs/1995/s3m/v/vibes.zip        112 ***   Feel the vibes by Avalanche
/songs/1995/s3m/v/voyager.zip      188 *+    Blue voyager by Petador
/songs/1995/xm/a/amblight.zip      149 ****  Ambient Light by Vogue
/songs/1995/xm/a/amnoise.zip       198 *     Noisy AM by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/c/cognitio.zip       59 **    Cognition by Sledgehammer
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_fla.zip       218 ***   First,Last,Always by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_myst.zip      470 ***+  Mysterious Unknown by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_notx.zip      467 ***   Notive.X by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/e/es_sky.zip        576 ***   Desert Sky by Clifford E. Sheep
/songs/1995/xm/f/f-moo.zip         646 *     F**k Moo by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/f/far.zip           222 ***   Far from home by LizardKing
/songs/1995/xm/f/forfire.zip       316 *     Forest Fire by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/h/heaven.zip         32 **+   Heaven Help my Heart by Ms.Saigon
/songs/1995/xm/k/koningin.zip      266 ***   Koningin by Dynamix
/songs/1995/xm/k/krkn-cym.zip      949 **    Change your mirror by The Kraken
/songs/1995/xm/m/mftp.arj          190 *     Music...by Pieter van der Veen
/songs/1995/xm/m/mindc20.zip       322 **+   Mind Control v2.0! by Teknicolor
/songs/1995/xm/m/mld-guid.zip      241 ***   The Guide by Mellow-D
/songs/1995/xm/m/moby-go.arj       218 **    Moby-go by Pieter van der Veen
/songs/1995/xm/n/never.zip         139 ****  Never Ending Story by LizardKing
/songs/1995/xm/n/nf-blow.zip       493 *+    Blow your mind by Audiokraft
/songs/1995/xm/p/paraguay.zip      275 *     Paraguay by Shaq
/songs/1995/xm/p/polizei.arj       252 *+    Polizei by ?
/songs/1995/xm/p/pumpuli.zip         3 **    Pumpuli by Feather
/songs/1995/xm/s/space-e_.arj      590 **    Space Emotion by Estillo
/songs/1995/xm/t/texp_ia_.zip      249 ***   Time Explosion by IA
/songs/1995/xm/t/triph0p.zip        45 *     Triphop by Stuttering MC
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrcyber.zip       527 **    Cyberspace by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrdestro.zip      396 **    Destroy by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrfeeltr.zip      400 *+    Feel the rhythm by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrgabber.zip      420 *     Gabber Screams by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrhardco.zip      369 *     Hardcore by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrhypno.zip       251 *+    Hypnotizer by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrintvoi.zip      305 **    Internal voice by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/z/zs-woc2.zip       159 **+   Winds of Change II by Zoso

=--------------------------------------------------------[Music:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/music             Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/programs/players/xtcp060.zip      179 XTC-Play 0.60b by Sanction
/programs/players/starp223.zip      32 StarPlay 2.23 by Jedi/Oxygen
/programs/rippers/ripper47.zip     132 Ripper 4.7 by Jonas

=----------------------------------------------------------------------[Code]-=
Location /demos/code              Size Rated Lang Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---- ----------------------------=
/demosrc/tdm-code.zip               60 ***   A    Source for Tedium / Oxygen
/graph/3d/objstar.zip               31 ***     C  Starfield & 3D object in C
/sound/hsc_src.zip                  48 ****  A  P HSC file player (Adlib/FM)
/sound/maplaypc.zip                212 ***+    C  MPEG Audio file player
/utils/detect.zip                    6 ***     C  Detects type of music file

=-----------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous:General]-=
Location /demos                   Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/mags/1995/dask08.zip              631 ***+  DaskMig #8
/mags/1995/dask08fi.zip              5 ***+  DaskMig #8 (bugfix)
/mags/1995/unreal03.zip            241 **+   Unreal #3

=------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos                   Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/hornet/d..s/101-120/demonews.102   47 DemoNews #102
/hornet/demonews/other/dnr110.zip   62 DemoNews Reader v1.10 by Phoenix
/info/traxw/tw26jive.txt            35 TraxWeekly #26 fun-funny "jive" style

=-[Articles]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=---------------------------------------------------[Introduction]--[Snowman]-=

 Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews issue 103!

 This is the "week of the uploads."  Our reviewers (myself included) have
 been working as fast as possible to review new and old files on our site.
 As you can tell by the number of files in the "Uploads" section, we've been
 busy.  :)

 This week, we have a pot-luck collection of articles for your reading
 pleasure.  Since we're trying to get this newsletter out every week, I'll
 devote my attentions to DemoNews.104 rather than bore you with a long
 introduction.

 Have fun and read on...

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com


=----------------------[A Rodent's Eye View of the Scene]--[Liam the Lemming]-=

 _____Preface

 This article may seem pretty pointless - everyone's done an "observations
 of the demo scene" article, right? From the newest newbies right through to
 veterans like Basehead. So why am I doing it?

 Well, I just feel like putting my two cents/pennies/francs/marks/kroner/
 gilders' worth (delete according to nationality :) ) to the age-old
 arguments...

 Also because I promised Snowman an article and I couldn't think of a good
 subject. :) Better make it sound interesting then... don't want hordes of
 DN fans unsubscribing on the strength of this article... ;)

 _____Introduction

 The demo scene is rife with conflicting opinions...

 Ripping samples:

   "Samples are sacrosanct! Especially mine! Don't touch! Hands off! (etc)"
   "Hey, those samples are cool! I think I'll claim 'em as my own..."
   "I've got no sampling equipment, so I'll use someone else's samples and
    credit them..."

 Other people's work:
   "Ha! You're not as good as me, so you're LAME!"
   "No I'm not!"
   "Yes you are!" (repeat ad nausea)

 The current state of demo, erm, "design" *ahem, ahem*
   "Hey, look at our kEEw|0 demo with millions of metal-shaded toruses!"
   "Here's our demo... nothing new, but it's a laugh riot!"
   "Our demo ROXX! cos it uses some brand new routine. We've taken it
    completely out of context so it looks boring but hey! It's a c00l
    routine!"

 Naturally, this creates a lot of tension. So many opinions, and nobody
 seemingly willing to budge an inch on any issue. I doubt my points of view
 will help things in that respect, but I'd like to think at least that most
 people out there will agree with some of my viewpoints.

 After all, that's all they are... my own personal views.

 _____The Great Ripping Debate

 This is arguably one of the hottest topics on the demo scene. Lots of
 newbies make the mistake of not giving credit WHERE IT'S DUE. :) This earns
 them a bad reputation, and I admit I almost made that mistake myself.

 In fact, in most of my early work (the stuff I uploaded in May 95) I didn't
 say which samples were from where. I made a list of modules I'd taken
 samples from and put it in the instrument list of THREE of my modules. That
 was DUMB.

 They were also this one song and two remixes... bundled together. Which
 makes it REALLY DUMB. (Don't do this at home, kids. :) ) Think about it.
 The list of credits is in ONE zip file. Very VERY dumb.

 (The more curious among you can find it at ftp.cdrom.com. Dunno which
 directory it's in, but its filename is MISADVNT.ZIP.)

 Anyway, I figured out soon enough that it wasn't exactly "the done thing"
 to rip other people's samples and went through my whole sample collection,
 amending the headers (I use ST3, y'see) so they each contained a simple
 description of the sample alongside the module it came from.

 I believe that's all I _can_ do, really. I've "made" a few original samples
 using DigiPlayer 3.0 by manipulating other people's samples, and I've even
 done a really nice sample of my own voice from within FastTracker 2. But
 nothing really substantial. Mainly because I don't have a synth.

 And no, a Yamaha FM keyboard doesn't count. :)

 So that's what I do. I rip samples left, right and center, but I _always_
 credit my sources these days. At the top of almost all my newest mods'
 instrument lists you'll find each sample has its own description and the
 module it originated from, even before the title of the song.

 I'm even trying to track each and every sample back to its origin, and it's
 taking a looooong time. :) I reckon it's worth it, though.

 For the sake of giving credit where it's due... I believe it's well worth
 it.

 _____Other People's Work

 Let me put a scenario to you. You, along with the other coders in your
 brand new demo group, have just coded this routine which you think is
 really snazzy and cool-looking. You recruit a graphician and a musician,
 put the snazzy "new" routine in a demo with reasonable structure (for a
 first demo), some impressive graphics and a very slightly dodgy song, and
 release the demo.

 You carry on working on a demo to enter at a competition in a few months
 and wait for a bit of appreciative e-mail about that first demo. Nothing
 turns up.

 You log onto an IRC server and hop on to #trax or #coders or whatever, and
 mention your group and the demo. Within seconds (lag permitting :) ), the L
 word is mentioned...

 LAME.

 Cue the flame war. Things get extremely fraught and you end up being kicked
 from the channel. You're deeply stung by the injustice of it all and vow
 never to bother with the demo scene again.

 Okay, lets go back to the bit where the guy's waiting for e-mail, shall we?

 The second demo hasn't even begun to take shape yet - a few ideas for
 effects, but nothing really solid. You check your e-mail.

 Someone found your demo and read the infotext (you _did_ remember to put an
 infotext in with the demo, didn't you? ;) ), and bore in mind that it was
 the group's _first_ demo. They offer a little constructive criticism, and
 compliment you on the demo's structure.

 You feel much better now you and your group have some recognition and thank
 the sender for his helpful advice, and the compliments about the structure.
 You go on to complete the second demo. Sadly, it doesn't qualify at the
 competition, but you don't let it put you off.

 Besides, your graphician came third in the graphics compo.

 See what a difference that _one_ message can make? It's a shame, really,
 that 99% of the time, that's all it ever is - a story made up by some
 columnist.

 What I'm saying is this. Remember the days when you were starting out? The
 PC demo scene was young, newcomers didn't have so much to prove and
 everyone really got along. These days, with real-time phong shaded toruses,
 morphing motion-blurred polygons and so on, newcomers have a hell of a lot
 to live up to.

 If you were in that position, you wouldn't want to be labelled a lamer.
 Would you?

 _____I Got Dem Ole "Nothin' But Another Torus Demo" Blues Again...

   Okay, hands up who was at Assembly 95.

   Now, hands up who saw a torus there... wow. _All_ of you. Quelled
   surprise.

   Hands up who saw _lots_ of toruses... everyone? Again? Hmm.

   Okay, put your hands down if you enjoyed this mass occurrence of toruses.
   ...What? Nobody? I'm shocked.

   Okay, put your hands down anyway. Now... uh, you at the front. You had
   your hand up. Can you tell me just _how many_ toruses were in all the
   Asm95 demos?

   Pardon? ...You lost count? Ah.

   But how did they manage to fit all those toruses into the demos without
   sacrificing the quality of the demo design?

   ...What d'you mean, there was no design???

 The biggest gripe about the demo scene currently seems to be the lack of
 design and structure to the most recent demos. More or less everyone in
 comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos seems to hark back to the days of Second Reality
 (yeah, it's that one again :) ) when "demos had some semblance of
 structure, and some thought went into the design", rather than the current
 state of Torus Overkill.

 What happened? Coding skills are important, naturally, but it's the whole
 package that matters with a demo, not just the code. It's the music. It's
 the graphics. It's the design, the structure. It's the _whole thing_ that
 counts.

 I still have Second Reality on my system. I'll probably delete Nooon's
 Stars before too long. (It crashes out with an exception error just at the
 Nooon logo... although, to its credit, there seem to be no toruses up to
 that point. :) )

 Stop and think about 2ndR for a moment. Think about how the music matched
 the "mood" of the demo - during the scrolly across the water, the plasmas
 (before the plasma cube), the raytraced sword and the bubbling landscape,
 the music became more... I dunno... mellow, I'd call it.

 When was the last time you saw such an effective combination of music,
 graphics and code? If I'm right, the answer for most of you will be "Second
 Reality".

 Like I said... what happened?

 _____Conclusion

 Feel free to mail me about the subjects I've voiced an opinion on here...
 or indeed, any side of the demo scene. Being a composer I naturally have a
 preference to the tracking side of things, but the three topics I've just
 taken you through are ones I feel very strongly about, so feel free to mail
 me to chat about those in particular.

 At worst, this article has lost DemoNews a large amount of credibility.
 Still, I never believed in worst case scenarios. ;)

 At best, it's made you stop and think about the state the demo scene is in
 right now. Mind you... I don't have faith in best case scenarios either.

 Liam the Lemming / S!P - cmslhes1@livjm.ac.uk


=--------------------------------------------[4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 4]--[Snowman]-=

 _____INTRODUCTION

 Welcome to the forth installment in the "4DOS 4DEMOS" series.  It has been
 over three months since I've written one of these things.  It might be a
 good idea for you to go back and read the first three parts.

 _____General Overview

 This article assumes you have read Parts 1 and 2.  Be sure to follow all of
 the steps I listed there.  We will be relying on them now.  Just for
 reference, here is a list of what we have covered so far (and what we will
 cover today):

   Part 1 (demonews.091) - Overview of 4DOS
                           How to get started
   Part 2 (demonews.093) - Made SET_ENVS.BAT for environmental variables
                           Made SET_COLS.BAT for color-coded files
   Part 3 (demonews.095) - Renamed .BAT files to .BTM to speed things up
                           Made SET_PATH.BTM for PATH and CDPATH variables
                           Made ALIAS.LST for basic-level aliases
   Part 4 (demonews.103) - Added to SET_ENVS.BTM for executable extensions
                           Added to ALIAS.LST for intermediate-level aliases

 Some may question the wisdom of having so many .BTM files when they could
 all be put together in one big .BTM file.  Although I do intend to show you
 how to put these all together in a later part, now it seems that having
 separate .BTM files for each type of activity makes things clearer.

 Today we are going to discuss executable extensions and intermediate-level
 aliases.  Executable extensions allow you to "execute" S3Ms, GIFs, and ASM
 files (I'm not kidding).  Intermediate-level aliases will discuss several
 of the more k3wLiO ways of tweaking your system.

 _____EXECUTABLE EXTENSIONS

 Imagine being able to type FM-RIFF from your dos prompt and having CapaMod
 automatically load up in the background and start playing FM-RIFF.S3M.

 Imagine being able to type PAM_ANDR and have Display pop up and show you a
 fine picture of Pamela Anderson (called PAM_ANDR.JPG).

 And for those more code-oriented, imagine being able to type MYPROG and
 having your favorite compiler automatically start working on MYPROG.CPP.

 _____How Does It Work?

 Yes folks, all this and more is possible when you harness the power of
 executable extensions.  But how does it work?  How can you do it?  4DOS
 includes functionality for you to specify a given program to run when you
 type the name of a file with a given extension.  For example, type:

   SET .S3M=C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE

 Now let's assume we have a file called NEWSONG.S3M which is located either
 in the current directory or somewhere in your CDPATH.

 Now type NEWSONG.  4DOS will expand this and invisibly use the command:

   C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE NEWSONG.S3M

 Now if you were to type NEWSONG /lop0, 4DOS would expand it to:

   C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE NEWSONG.S3M /lop0

 So it is easy to add an extra command line argument or two if needed.

 All you gotta do is add a bunch of these to your SET_ENVS.BTM file and you
 can really impress your friends.  Here are a few starters:

   : Archives
   SET .ARJ=ARJ x -y
   SET .A0?=ARJ x -y
   SET .ZIP=PKUNZIP -d

   : Code
   SET .ASM=TASM
   SET .CPP=TCC -mc -a -G -2 -O
   SET .PAS=TPC -$G+ +$A+

   : Graphics
   SET .GIF=DISP
   SET .JPG=DISP
   SET .TGA=DISP

   : Music
   SET .MOD=LH E:\-PLAY\CMOD225\CMODTSR.EXE
   SET .S3M=LH E:\-PLAY\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE

 There are a couple things to take note of here:

   -"SET .ASM=TASM" was used instead of "SET .ASM=TASM.EXE" because the .EXE
    extension is optional (in most circumstances).

   -We used the ? in "SET .A0?=ARJ x -y" so that we could unarj files with
    extensions of .A01, .A02, .A03 etc.  4DOS allows you to use * and ?
    wildcards in the extensions you specify.

   -Although not really a 4DOS function, we used the LH with "SET .MOD" and
    "SET .S3M" so that we could Load High the CapaMod player.  Depending on
    the song you are playing, you might be able to snag a few extra k of
    base memory for other things while a tune is playing in the background.

 Don't forget that for these commands to work, the SET_ENVS.BTM file has to
 be run again.  You can do this by rebooting, typing SET_ENVS, or re-running
 your AUTOEXEC.BAT.  But you already knew that of coz, so I digress...

 _____ALIASES (Intermediate)

 In issue 95 of DemoNews, we talked about what aliases were and how to use
 them.  Today we'll look at some more advanced features.

 _____Partial Alias Names

 Consider the alias "DEMOS =CDD C:\DEMOS".  Not too complicated, right? You
 type DEMOS and your system puts you in the C:\DEMOS directory.  That CDD
 simply means "Change Drive and Directory".  If we had only used CD and we
 were currently in the E:\NONOPICS directory, then the alias would not have
 worked because it would have had to change to a different drive.

 Now consider the alias "DE*MOS =CDD C:\DEMOS".  What is that * doing in the
 middle?  Probably the best way to explain it is by example.  We already
 know that typing DEMOS will take us to the C:\DEMOS directory, but with
 that * in place, we can type DEMOS, DEMO, DEM, or DE and 4DOS will do the
 same thing.

 Having an * means that we can type in the full alias name, or any part of
 it up to the *, and the same thing is done.

 Even after using 4DOS for so long, I have not found a real use for this.
 Maybe you start out early making the alias DEMOS and then later want to
 change it to just DE.  Then I guess having DE*MOS could help you through
 the transition process.  We probably won't be using Partial Alias Names
 much, but please remember that it is there.

 _____Using Alt, Ctrl, and Function Keys in Aliases

 Consider the alias "@Alt-d =dir".  You press ALT-D and 4DOS spits out the
 word "DIR" at your prompt.  You hit enter and you get a directory.
 That's what I call a little slick.

 Now consider the alias "@@Alt-d =dir".  Now you press ALT-D, and instead
 of 4DOS spitting out the word "DIR", it automatically executes the command
 and hides the word "DIR" from you.  Now that's what I call pretty slick.

 Here are some common aliases you may wish to put in your ALIAS.LST file:

   ALIAS @@F6       =tm.exe
   ALIAS @@Alt-d    =dir
   ALIAS @@Shift-1  =c:\music\tracker\st3\st3.exe
   ALIAS @@Ctrl-Tab =c:\games\heretic\her.bat

 For a complete list of key names (like Alt-, Ctrl-, Tab, etc.) just type
 HELP ALIAS at your 4DOS prompt.

 _____Multiple Commands in Aliases

 Consider the alias "@@Alt-d =`cls ^ dir`.  So what's with the ` and ^
 characters?  Well, the ^ is a command separator.  This means that our alias
 first does CLS and then it does DIR.  The ` is just used to group the two
 commands together.  It's also there as a safeguard we won't talk about now.

 Here are some more aliases you can now add to your ALIAS.LST file:

   ALIAS FT2   =`MOUSE.COM ^ FT2.EXE`
   ALIAS ANGRY =`CDD C:\MYMUSIC ^ DEL *.*`

 _____Parameters in Aliases

 The forth and final little alias lore we will look at are parameters within
 aliases.  Consider the alias "cooldir =`cls ^ dir %1 %2 %3 %4`.  This
 notation is just like a .BAT file.  Each % refers to command-line
 argument.

 Now you can type COOLDIR *.S3M *.MOD and 4DOS will expand this to:

   CLS
   DIR *.S3M *.MOD

 Now you can use really cool aliases like the following:

   ALIAS D       =`cls ^ dir /h /j /k /ogen %1 %2 %3 %4`
   ALIAS @@Alt-d =D

 In this case, when you press Alt-d, the alias D is executed.  All of those
 parameters I'm using after dir are just to make things look really pretty.
 That's what I call extremely slick.

 _____A Note of Caution

 Do be careful.  If you define an alias that is a pre-existing command (like
 "alias dir = ... ", "alias copy = ... ") your new command would replace the
 old one.  I'll discuss this more in a future tutorial.

 _____CONCLUSION

 Now you are getting into some really neato stuff.  Believe it or not, we've
 only touched the surface of 4DOS.  Next week we'll talk about reusable
 directory variables, the "select" command, and 4DOS function calls.

 And remember, 4DOS 4EVER!

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com


=-------------------------------[FTP'ing to ftp.cdrom.com from the UK]--[KJB]-=

 I've just read the latest issue demonews and the above article about
 ftpmail caught my attention. You might be pleased to hear that your site is
 not always slow and I quite often reach speeds of around 15k/sec ftp'ing to
 the UK.

 As no e-mail address for 'Aquafresh' was given might you consider telling
 him that I've found the site slow (around 1k/sec) only during the week (Due
 to heavy U.S. use??). During Saturday & Sunday mornings/afternoons though
 speed picks starting at around 3k/sec+ on Saturdays and reaching a peek of
 about 10-15k/sec on Sundays.

 To sign off I'd just like to say that it's nice to have a specialized site
 to call on for all the latest demos & music. The Demonews contributors are
 also to be thanked for their reviews of the latest releases helping me to
 make the most out of my downloads.

 Thanks.

 KJB - madhouse@gonk.compulink.co.uk


=------------------------------------------[Basehead is "Steppin' Out"]--[GD]-=

 Not long after the release of his Five Musicians-affiliated musicdisk, a
 seven-song compilation titled "Lotus Position," Basehead (Real name Dan
 Grandpre) announced that he was leaving the demo scene. It came as a
 surprise to everyone, including Necros, who was probably Basehead's closest
 friend in the scene.

 Met with frustrated, sad, and even angry fans, he maintained his decision
 to leave. At the time, he was a member of the Kosmic Free Music Foundation,
 Imphobia, and Five Musicians.

 He leaves behind approximately three years on the PC scene, during which
 time he completed about 120 songs. Among those are the four songs from his
 "Shades of Night" trilogy, "Elegance" from the ASM'95 demo "Elegant," songs
 in musicdisks such as Kosmic's three "EGG" musicdisks and the popular
 "Epidemic" musicdisk, as well as his final scene contribution, his
 musicdisk.

 Through his years on the PC music scene, he has written co-op tunes with
 Necros, Siren, and C.C.Catch, competed and placed third in the NAID'95
 music compo, and impressed countless fans with his unique style. His
 respectable history of music theory education makes him one of the best
 composers that the scene has known.

 Below is a condensed form of the Basehead Discography, as compiled by
 Majesty and released with the "Lotus Position" musicdisk.

 _____Time, Title, Date of Completion, Footnote Indicators, (extra info)

  Time     Title                          Date               Status
  =-----=  =---------------------------=  =---------------=  =-----=
   (2:17)  Out of Time Again,              9 June      1993  (x)
           Ego Trip,                      16 June      1993  (x)
   (3:40)    Original Version             16 June      1993  (x)
   (3:54)    New Lead Version             17 June      1993  (p)
   (2:52)    Faster Mix                   28 August    1993  (p)
   (2:38)  Infectious Groove,             19 June      1993
           One Step Beyond,               21 June      1993
   (2:24)    Original Version (poor mix), 21 June      1993
   (2:24)    Slam Rhythm Edit             15 November  1993  <?> (x)
   (2:46)  Darkroom                       23 June      1993  (x)
   (4:35)  The City Limits                27 June      1993
   (2:54)  Crime Story                     4 July      1993
   (3:18)  Panic Button (Hit-it!)          6 July      1993  (x)
   (2:06)  No More Sunshine                9 July      1993  (p)
   (2:10)  Perpetual Dawn                 14 July      1993  (p)
           Full Mental Jacket             15 August    1993
   (2:28)    Original Version             15 August    1993  (p)
   (2:50)    Razor Sharp Edit             16 August    1993  (p)
   (3:00)    Razor Sharp Edit II          18 August    1993  (x)
   (6:17)  Transflux!                     25 August    1993
   (2:40)  Dark Side of the Moon           6 September 1993
   (3:02)  Party's On (housemix)           6 September 1993
   (1:45)  Northstar                       8 September 1993
   (3:22)  Crime Story II                 15 September 1993  (p)
   (1:21)  Jazz Katt                      16 September 1993  (p)
   (5:20)  Odyssey Revisited              26 September 1993  (p) <?>
   (1:01)  Anarchist Fish (remix)         12 October   1993  (p)
   (3:25)  Lucid Dreaming                 25 October   1993
   (2:28)  High Voltage/Untitled (remix)  20 November  1993  <?> (x)
   (7:45)  Shades of Night                15 December  1993
           Do U Wanna Trance?             29 December  1993  (x)
   (2:18)    Original version             29 December  1993  (p)
   (3:01)    Three Minute Edit            29 December  1993  (p)
   (4:23)    Full Length Version          18 January   1994  (x)
   (7:28)  Euthanasia (ravemix)            4 January   1994
   (8:08)  The Cosmic Courier             10 January   1994
   (4:27)  Starlight                      19 January   1994  (x)
   (3:02)  Freestyle Funk/Dig This        26 Februrary 1994  (x)
   (3:05)  Lucid                          28 April     1994
   (2:27)  Loss                           30 April     1994
   (3:50)  Psionic                         2 May       1994
   (4:01)  Fire&Ice                        9 May       1994
   (3:24)  Zodiac-introtune               15 May       1994
           Revelation                     21 May       1994
   (3:05)    Original Version             21 May       1994
   (3:30)    Swing Version                21 May       1994
   (5:22)  Nostalgic                      26 May       1994
   (4:23)  High Velocity,                  3 June      1994
   (6:48)  Hologram Rose                   4 June      1994
   (6:03)  Wide Awake                     26 June      1994
  (22:20)  Shades Of Night II             30 June      1994
   (4:35)  Vision                          8 July      1994
  (10:34)  Indian Ritual Theme            11 July      1994
   (4:38)  Quick(tek)intro-1              14 July      1994
   (9:45)  Collapsehouse                  17 July      1994
  (13:24)  Tripping To Neptune            26 July      1994
   (6:46)  Summer Daydream                28 July      1994
   (5:08)  Sensual                         5 August    1994
   (4:36)  Dope For Your Mind II           7 August    1994
   (7:23)  Arcadia II                     12 August    1994
   (4:36)  Weeping Willow Rag             24 August    1994
   (6:06)  Deviate                        29 August    1994  (x)
   (7:16)  Forever                         7 October   1994
   (2:06)  Quickintro-2                   10 October   1994  (x)
   (3:58)  Quickchip-1                    10 October   1994
   (6:53)  Poetry In Motion II            10 October   1994
   (2:28)  Happy Birthday to Inky!        16 October   1994
   (7:07)  Shiver                         17 October   1994
   (5:39)  Twitch                         17 October   1994
  (20:36)  Shades Of Night III            23 October   1994
   (5:44)  Last Dance                     24 October   1994
   (2:49)  Mad Hatter                     25 October   1994
   (4:12)  No More Secrets                29 October   1994
   (1:35)  Ravaged Nightmare Intro        12 November  1994
   (9:35)  Twilight Garden                14 November  1994
  (18:05)  Imajica                        19 November  1994
  (18:26)  Chiba City Lights               1 December  1994
   (9:32)  Sokoban-main (cdagame)          9 December  1994
   (5:32)  Snow Dancing                   12 December  1994  (x)
  (12:26)  Antimatter                     17 December  1994
   (8:40)  iCE-Experience-v1              19 December  1994
   (1:57)  Quickchip-2                    25 December  1994  (x)
   (5:25)  Synapse                        26 December  1994
   (6:52)  Cloud Nine                      1 January   1995
   (8:03)  Take Me Higher (click2)        14 January   1995
   (6:24)  Mindstream                     15 January   1995
  (14:20)  Celestial Lullabye             29 January   1995
   (9:29)  Spartacus                       4 February  1995
  (24:20)  Quickchip-3(fantasia)           7 February  1995
  (11:24)  The Wunderkind                 13 March     1995
   (4:26)  Can't Fake The Funk            19 March     1995
   (6:57)  2deep                          19 April     1995
   (6:03)  Dawn                           22 April     1995
   (3:30)  Summercon-intro                24 April     1995
  (11:05)  Violent Micro                  29 April     1995
   (4:29)  Guinness                       30 April     1995
   (2:45)  Bizarre                         2 May       1995
   (5:46)  Evolution                      14 May       1995
   (3:06)  Gotham Nights                  24 May       1995
   (1:16)  Quickintro-4                    3 June      1995
 * (8:37)  Freedom At Midnight             4 June      1995
 * (4:51)  Steppin'Out                     5 June      1995
 * (4:23)  Smooth Operator                 9 June      1995
 * (5:56)  Last Request                   11 June      1995
   (3:54)  Carpe Futurus                  18 June      1995
   (9:29)  Missing Time                   21 June      1995
 *(12:32)  Open Your Mind                 24 June      1995
 *(11:27)  Shades of Night IV             10 July      1995
   (3:58)  Crusader-credits               16 July      1995
   (5:22)  Crusader-science               17 July      1995
   (4:05)  Crusader-spc.station           18 July      1995
   (3:35)  Crusader-prison                30 July      1995
   (4:19)  Elegance                        2 August    1995
   (4:23)  Crusader-military               2 August    1995
   (3:03)  Crusader-misc1                 16 August    1995
   (3:43)  Crusader-misc2                 16 August    1995
   (4:23)  Crusader-misc4                 18 August    1995
   (5:26)  Crusader-misc5                 18 August    1995
   (4:20)  Search for the Lost Riff       28 August    1995
 * (5:39)  Passion Play                   15 September 1995
  (51:66)  Lotus Position                 16 September 1995

   Footnotes:
   
   (x)     Never officially released.
   (p)     Part of Basehead's private collection (never released.)
   (*)     Song appears on the "Lotus Position" musicdisk
   <?>     Completion date may not be exact.

 _____Conclusion

 As a final tribute, we will have an interview with Basehead next week. Be
 sure to read it, as it's probably the last interview you will see from him.

 GD / Hornet - gd@ftp.cdrom.com


=-----------[Top 10 Things the Demo Scene Will Never See]--[Liam the Lemming]-=

 10.  Basehead ripping off PeriSoft's instruments.
  9.  Necros joining Epinicion.
  8.  The triumphant return of ModEdit 2.00.
  7.  PeriSoft deleting THAT siner synth from his sample collection.
  6.  Skaven finishing off Ice Frontier.
  5.  Big Jim joining Epinicion.
  4.  The point of Windoze 95.
  3.  Eye to eye.
  2.  Third Reality.
  1.  Liam the lemming / S(ix) M(usicians). ;)

 Liam the lemming / S!P - cmslhes1@livjm.ac.uk


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 _____Back Issues

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=-[Closing]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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 Your mail will be forwarded to the appropriate individual.


...........................................................End.of.DemoNews.103.

