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         DemoNews Issue #97 - July 30, 1995           | Size        : 52,966
                    -------------                     | Subscribers : 1455
 DemoNews is a weekly newsletter for the demo scene.  | Last Week   : 1433
 It is produced by Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com.  | Change      :  +22
                                                      |
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                                  <CONTENTS>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

           New Uploads

           General Articles

             Review of Progression Music Disk............Ryan Cramer
             Fast Tracker v2.04 Review...................GraveDigger
             Music Contest 3 Results.....................Snowman
             The Japanese Demo Scene.....................rot-N

           Interviews

             Zodiac......................................Ryan Cramer

           Advertisements

             PMODE/W v1.20...............................Daredevil

           Subscribing

           Closing Comments

           Note: Anything in []'s is inserted by the editor (Snowman).

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

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

 All files listed below are on ftp.cdrom.com or one of its mirrors.

 Ratings are completely subjective and do not necessarily reflect opinions
 of the demo scene in general.

 ftp.cdrom.com too slow?  Try our mirror at ftp.luth.se.  You may even
 upload to this site under /pub/msdos/demos_upload.

=---------------------------------------------------------------------[Demos]-=
Location /demos/alpha/1995        Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/a/akm-bomb.zip                     12 *     Bomb by Arkham
/a/akm_dob.zip                      40 *+    DOB not by Arkham
/e/excuse-1.zip                   1030 ***+  [1/2] No-Excuse by Omicron
/e/excuse-2.zip                    791       [2/2] 1st Place Icing '95 Demo
/h/hardboil.zip                     20 ***+  Hardboiled by Reality
/m/mousetro.zip                     31 *+    Mousetro by Solar Designer / BPC
/p/pha_mure.zip                     53 ***+  Murel by Phenomena
/p/prp-aa.zip                      308 ***   Artist Alliance BBS by Propaganda
/p/pureness.zip                   1433 ****  Pureness by WaterLogic (1st TS95)
/r/rekku.zip                       130 ***   Rekku intro by Orange
/r/rty_flux.zip                     17 ***+  Mindflux BBS by Reality
/s/sametech.zip                     70 ****  Sametech Annihilation by COM:SEX
/s/sck-econ.zip                     25 **    E-Connect BBS Intro by Shock!
/s/starbbs.zip                      95 **+   Star BBS Intro by Oxygen
/s/startro.zip                      18 ***+  Startro by Reality
/w/wkd-cww1.zip                     38 **    Wicked BBS Intro by Conway
/z/zntrphy.arj                    1456 ***   [1/2] Zoantrophy by MiST
/z/zntrphy.a01                     596       [2/2] 1st at DeMoBit '95 Party

Somewhere in Holland '95 (Demos)

/g/goldorak.zip                   1124 ***   1st Goldorak by Real-Time
/a/an-mod0.zip                     344 ***+  2nd Model 0 by Analogue
/i/img_spoo.zip                    440 [n/a]     Spoon by Image (WINDOWS DEMO!)
/s/spoonfin.zip                    441 [n/a]     Spoon (update) by Image

Somewhere in Holland '95 (64k Intros)

/a/acme-syw.zip                     56 ***+  1st Smoke Yellow Weed by Acme
/n/nameless.zip                     68 ***   3rd Nameless by LaSerDance
/a/acme-byn.zip                     52 **        Acme Blows Your Nose by Acme
/a/acme-sux.zip                     28 *         Acme Sucks by Acme
/b/bhmorbid.zip                     67 **        Morbid by Bunghole Productions
/c/cornetto.zip                     25 *         Cornetto by Cornetto
/k/kaboom.zip                       46 **        Kaboom by Sentinel
/m/mass-jwl.zip                     61 ***+      Jewelry by Massive

Bush Party ][ '95 (64k Intros)

/b/bunny.zip                        58 ***+  Bunny by SRK
/b/burma.zip                        64 ***+  Burma by Proxima
/c/cdz_cdz.zip                      46 **    Condem by Condenz
/c/crap.zip                         23 *     Crap by Phrenetics
/d/dandruff.zip                     37 ***+  Dandruff by YeTi
/f/formor.zip                       38 **    For Morroskvld by Illuminati
/s/so.zip                           61 ***+  So? by Xenon Develop. (Bush Party)
/v/visions.zip                      59 ****  Visions by Sorrox

=-------------------------------------------------------------[Music:General]-=
Location /demos/music             Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/disks/0-9/7mod-cbr.zip           1241 **+   Music for the m. C.Brown Records
/songs/mod/0-9/4getpast.zip        133 **    Forget The Past. ?
/songs/mod/m-r/pollette.arj        360 ***+  J'ai Pollette .. The REW
/songs/mtm/a-f/esp_mchn.zip         53 **+   Minimal(remix)   Watchman/ESP
/songs/mtm/a-f/esp_trth.zip        203 *+    The Liar's Truth Watchman/ESP
/songs/s3m/0-9/2-ult.zip           132 ***+  Ultimate Perfor. Prance / dbduo
/songs/s3m/a-c/briliant.arj        491 ***+  Brilliant        The Peric
/songs/s3m/a-c/cutmastr.zip        251 *+    Cut master, cut  Hannibal Lecter
/songs/s3m/d-f/dj3_sm.zip          276 **    Sound Mind       DJ Cubed
/songs/s3m/d-f/ds-aluni.zip        240 ***+  The Alunis Proje Dead Silence
/songs/s3m/d-f/ds-intrw.zip        157 ***   Wrong Soul,Inter Dead Silence
/songs/s3m/d-f/ds-kryah.zip        164 ***   Lands of Kryah   Dead Silence
/songs/s3m/d-f/ds-tab.zip           75 **+   Tab              Dead Silence
/songs/s3m/d-f/epi-frgt.zip         50 *     Forgetting Me    aradia/EPI
/songs/s3m/d-f/epi-lite.zip         47 ***   Light Headed     szalemandare/EPI
/songs/s3m/d-f/esp_debd.zip        126 **    Debassed v1.1    Elemental+Watchm
/songs/s3m/d-f/esp_eyes.zip        406 **    Eyes of Despair  Watchman/ESP
/songs/s3m/j-l/k_monot.zip         114 ***   Monotone         karl/Kosmic
/songs/s3m/j-l/lp-dragn.zip         59 **+   DragonWarriorMus LordPegasus
/songs/s3m/j-l/lresort.zip         212 ***   Last Resort      cerebral neuros
/songs/s3m/m-o/newbegin.zip        133 **+   A New Beginning  Mhoram
/songs/s3m/m-o/nicklbag.zip        336 *+    Ladybug Hits ... Hannibal Lecter
/songs/s3m/p-r/painkilr.zip        286 *     PainKiller       Aradia
/songs/s3m/p-r/phist.zip           250 **    Eagle Phist      Hannibal Lecter
/songs/s3m/p-r/p_ecstxy.zip        389 **+   Ecstaxy          Primal
/songs/s3m/p-r/repress.zip         356 ***+  Repression       Siren
/songs/s3m/s-z/vclm-oph.zip        182 *     Night Song (Cru. Vegetablecalm
/songs/s3m/s-z/vo-atlan.zip        262 **    The Rise of Atl. Voyeur / flip
/songs/xm/0-9/180.zip              630 *+    Tekno13          Robodude
/songs/xm/g-l/k_synerg.zip         420 ***   Synergistic      Khyron/Kosmic
/songs/xm/m-r/rivendel.arj         212 ****  Rivendell        The REW
/songs/xm/s-z/spinwhip.zip         378 *+    Spin Whipping    satyriCON

=--------------------------------------------------------[Music:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/music             Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/programs/players/cp14.zip        1022 Cubic Player v1.4 by Niklas Beisert
/programs/players/cp14l.zip        241 Cubic Player v1.4 lite by N. Beisert
/programs/trackers/digitr23.zip    117 DigiTrakker v2.3 by Lard/Rew(Nostology)
/samples/gusperc.zip              1454 GUS MIDI Percussion Patches from Roland
/samples/proteus1.zip             2033 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [1/3]
/samples/proteus2.zip             1825 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [2/3]
/samples/proteus3.zip              729 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [3/3]
/samples/roland1.zip              2898 Roland SCC-1 Sound Canvas samples [1/2]
/samples/roland2.zip              1917 Roland SCC-1 Sound Canvas samples [2/2]
/samples/s3msmpl1.arj              608 Miscellaneous S3M Samples (in SMP form)
/samples/sw-441a.zip              7435 Korg X5 - 44.1khz samples
/samples/sw-blp.zip               2217 Korg X5 - Bass/Solos/Pads/Effects
/samples/sw-brwbl.zip             2241 Korg X5 - Woodwinds/Brass/Pads
/samples/sw-cust.zip              2357 Korg X5 - Custom patches
/samples/sw-d50c0.zip             2650 Roland D50 - ROM card 1050-00 samples
/samples/sw-d50c1.zip             3278 Roland D50 - ROM card 1050-01 samples
/samples/sw-drums.zip             1063 Korg X5 - Drum patches
/samples/sw-pad1.zip              1659 Korg X5 - Pads and Effects
/samples/sw-piagt.zip             2012 Korg X5 - Pianos, Guitars, and Organs

=----------------------------------------------------------------------[Code]-=
Location /demos/code              Size Rated Lang Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---- ----------------------------=
/demosrc/fcsp2src.zip               32 ****+ A    FC's Starport 2 Intro source
/graph/plasma/plasma3.zip           16 ***   A    320x400 interleaved plasma
/graph/sprites/edispr20.zip         66 ***   [NA] Sprite editor (in french!)
/graph/sprites/spriv103.zip         30 ***+  [NA] Sprite editor by Discordis
/libs/dfmake.zip                    39 ***     C  File concatenation library
/memory/rumb117i.zip                57 ***   [NA] Gives upper mem without EMM
/text/tim486.zip                    36 ****  A    Database of CPU timings
/utils/bin2arr.zip                  29 *+    A C  Converts binaries to includes
/utils/clay235.zip                 167 ****  [NA] Great 3D object editor
/utils/f3d150.zip                  322 ***   [NA] Makes 3d objs. from TT fonts
/utils/flos.zip                     61 ****  [NA] DemoPerson's command shell
/utils/hsi2arr.zip                  68 ***+    C  RAW to C-readable array conv.

=------------------------------------------------------------------[Graphics]-=
Location /demos/graphics          Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/pictures/ajtjpg.zip              2478 AJT graphics pack by Infiny Prod.
/pictures/mk-ritua.gif             439 Picture by Mr. Krinkle
/pictures/oddy.zip                 239 Atrophy
/pictures/singgirl.zip              46 Singing Girl by TMK/INF at Bushparty 2

=-------------------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous]-=
Location /demos                   Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/hornet/o1fil/o1fil012              14 01 File Section #12
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.008          33 TraxWeekly #8
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.017          33 TraxWeekly #17
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.018          86 TraxWeekly #18
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.019         102 TraxWeekly #19
/party/asm/1995/a95inv.zip         743 The Assembly 1995 Invitation Intro


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

=---------------------------[Review of Progression Music Disk]--[Ryan Cramer]-=

 _____Introduction

 At last! The long awaited Progression music disk from Necros has finally
 been released. I will tell you right now, this *is* the best single artist
 music disk ever produced in the PC demoscene. No other music disk has ever
 approached the quality of music that you will find in Progression!

 _____Interface

 The music disk has a very simple, yet easy to use interface. In the
 background is a beautiful picture and logo drawn by Xten of iCE. In the
 foreground, we have a list of six songs and an information box for each
 song. Everything is extremely clean!

 You can change songs by using your up or down arrow keys. One thing that I
 especially liked about the interface was the fact that when one song
 finishes, it moves on to the next. This is an extremely useful feature that
 I wish more music disks would incorporate!

 My only complaint about the interface is that if you want to jump to a
 song, you will have to scroll down to it and for every time you hit the
 arrow key, it will load up the entire song. This means that if you want to
 jump down to the fifth song, your going to have to load the first four
 while your trying to get there.

 Other music disks could learn a lot from this interface, its beautiful,
 simple, and easy to use.

 _____Music

 Ok now to the important stuff. The music in this disk is really incredible.
 When you hear it, you will not believe that it is tracked! This is some of
 the most realistic sounding music that I have heard. Necros really shows
 his stuff in this music disk, and I think that this music proves him to be
 one of the best in the PC music scene. Of course, many of you already knew
 that. :)

 The music in Progression makes most other scene music seem like child's
 play. What you are listening to on Progression is equal to or above the
 quality of much commercially published music that you might purchase at the
 record store.

 In the past, some of Necros's songs didn't have the best quality samples.
 That is no longer the case, the samples used in the songs on Progression
 sound like they are straight from a CD. In fact, Necros played and sampled
 much of the guitar used in the disk.

 What you are hearing in Progression is as realistic sounding as it gets on
 the computer. However, these are no pre-fab songs like we've been hearing
 from some musicians lately. These songs are actually tracked and not just
 re-makes of something that was originally produced outside of the tracker.

 Necros has already proved his tracking ability in the past, and the
 tracking in Progression is some of his best.

 The music disk consists of six songs which include two excellent guitar
 tunes (The Crossing & Collage), one hard jazzy tune (Metroplex), one
 techno/demo/newage type song (Point), one hard "groove oriented" unique
 tune (Isotoxin), and a grand finale of a song called Grey Note which sounds
 so live that you will not believe it!

 As you can see, the disk includes quite a variety of music. There is
 something there for everyone, however I think that you will find all of the
 songs to be equally enjoyable. My personal favorites were "Collage" and
 "Point". The song "The Crossing" was actually Necros's Music Contest III
 entry, and it will no doubt take one of the top places in the contest.

 [The song placed 2nd in the Veteran division]

 _____Conclusion

 Score, 10 out of 10. There is no question that this is one of the best
 music disks ever produced in the PC scene. The quality of the music is
 consistent throughout the entire disk, there are no shortcomings! If you
 don't already have Progression, get a copy of it right away. Start the
 disk, lie down, and concentrate on the music ... you will be moved! This
 music disk definitely raises the standards!

 Necros can be contacted via email at: necros@axs.net. You can find
 Progression on ftp.cdrom.com either in the /music/disks directory or
 the /incoming/music/disks directory under the filename: fm-prog.zip

 Ryan Cramer / Renaissance - rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu


=----------------------------------[Fast Tracker v2.04 Review]--[GraveDigger]-=

 _____Introduction

 Triton has released version 2.04 of their "Fast Tracker," the tracker that
 is mouse-driven and saves in the MOD and XM (eXtended Module) formats. Some
 of its features include: easy configuration, FT Nibbles (the game we all
 know and love), and a sample editor.

 This version was tested on a GUS Max with 512k of RAM.

 _____Configuration

 Upon first loading this tracker, fresh out of the zip file, the default
 colors were horrendous. However, I merely had to click on "Config," then
 "Layout," and select a different color scheme (I recommend "blues") to
 remedy the situation.

 The mouse pointer is configurable as well, but the default pointer seems to
 be the best. You can also choose between two designs of "busy" mouse
 pointers, which are activated when the CPU is in use. The two choices are a
 clock with a swinging pendulum, and an hourglass which fills up and flips
 itself when it runs out.

 _____Sample Editor

 The sample editor is perhaps the best element of the program, in my
 opinion. Although FT 2.03 allowed the user to switch to 16-bit sampling, it
 would crash.  Thus, the switch has been disabled in the new version. (Among
 the bugs pointed out by the authors is "16-bit sampling doesn't work on the
 GUS") It offers a selection between Line and Mic inputs, configurable
 sampling rate, and sampling volume.  My complaint of the sample editor is
 that it always shows the file length in hex, which means if one is sampling
 with the intentions of using the samples in another tracker which has a
 limit on the file size, it is difficult to get the filesize correct.

 If you want to loop your samples, you are in luck. The FT on-board sampler
 allows forward looping (as used in trackers such as Scream Tracker 3) and
 ping-pong looping (the looped segment is played back and forth instead of
 in a continuous circle). [This is also known as bidi (or BIDIrectional
 looping)]

 Also, to get the smoothest possible loop, there is an editing command
 called "X-fade." This command will operate on the looped portion defined by
 editing the sample (depending on the type of looping being used) to create
 a smooth overlap instead of a noticeable click.

 _____New Features

 Among new features in version 2.04 are a CDROM sample dumper, keyoff
 command using the capslock key, and a dos shell.

 Samples can be transferred directly from a CDROM drive, which allows for
 the creating of error-free samples. This is implemented by clicking on the
 button which is labeled 'CD-Dump' in the main row of buttons.

 Many users had a problem using the 'keyoff' command because Fast Tracker
 was coded on a Swedish keyboard. The program does offer selectable code
 pages as defined by country, and this new feature allows everyone to be
 able to use a keyoff.

 One of the greatest additions to this release of FT is the Dos Shell.
 Joining the ranks of most other trackers with dos shells, FT previously
 separated the user from their machine with only limited dos support
 commands intended for purposes of loading and saving. However, the first
 time I ran FT2, I remember shelling to DOS by clicking on a button. But,
 after that very first time I ran it, the DOS shell button disappeared, and
 I have not been able to find it since.

 The coders managed to remove the mouse requirement when running PMP, the
 XM/S3M/MOD protected-mode player. Users were puzzled by the mouse
 requirement while the player had no interface of any sort. The authors had
 previously stated that the reason a mouse was required was because their
 VCPI code was all integrated, and removing the mouse portion was difficult.

 _____Conclusion

 Overall, the design and layout of Fast Tracker can be a bit confusing.
 Everything is on one screen, and the lack of hotkeys makes the transition
 from other trackers which do support hotkeys, a rather difficult one.
 However, popularity of FT continues to rise, and many of its users are
 quite die-hard about it.

 Triton has done well with this upgrade in fixing many quirks with the
 program as pointed out by its users. I hope they will continue to release
 upgrades in order to fix more bugs, such as the 16-bit sampling on a GUS,
 true SMP sample saving (When saving a sample in SMP format, it actually
 saves in SAM format), better S3M loading support (panning commands aren't
 recognized), as well as other bugs which they mention themselves.

 GraveDigger / Hornet - gd@ftp.cdrom.com


=----------------------------------------[Music Contest 3 Results]--[Snowman]-=

 _____Introduction

 Have you waited long enough?  On the newsgroups, in e-mail, on IRC, on the
 phone, the people are yelling, shouting, screaming "Where are the results
 for Music Contest 3!?"  The results are in, so enjoy!

 All voting has been carefully checked for accuracy and authenticity.  One
 judge had to be disqualified due to odd voting patterns.  Overall,
 everything went quite smoothly.

 Due to academics, I have been unable to complete the mc3final.exe today as
 expected.  The results are printed below, but the comments and subscores
 have been ommited.  They _will_ be released next weekend.

 I would have delayed the release of all results until next weekend, but I
 felt a lynching coming on...

 _____Veteran Results

 Rank Author             Song-ID Rated | Rank Author             Song-ID Rated
 ---- ------------------ ------- ----- | ---- ------------------ ------- -----
   1  Jase               E-94956 9.024 |  34  Bedlamite          E-39342 7.205
   2  Necros             E-29812 8.841 |  35  Thanatos           E-89842 7.197
   3  Nemesis            E-98842 8.697 |  36  Freejack           E-98442 7.158
   4  Leviathan          E-95642 8.515 |  37  Hades              E-48866 7.153
   5  Big Jim            E-95264 8.347 |  38  Soundwave          E-56172 7.089
   6  Markell Moss       E-45554 8.309 |  39  Falcon             E-34854 7.077
   7  Shikando           E-98138 8.206 |  40  Breeze             E-59438 7.037
   8  Ryan Cramer        E-79942 8.138 |  41  Replay             E-59874 6.899
   9  Bar                E-69547 7.989 |  42  DJ Tek             E-29612 6.888
  10  Firelight          E-74556 7.964 |  43  Lord Pegasus       E-98942 6.862
  11  Esper Division     E-43864 7.957 |  44  Khyron             E-54752 6.846
  12  Future Assassin    E-09344 7.953 |  45  Bert               E-40259 6.840
  13  Blanka             E-93442 7.882 |  46  Chris Whitney      E-86224 6.828
  14  Teo                E-91347 7.858 |  47  Phoenix            E-79362 6.781
  15  Asyntote           E-69447 7.857 |  48  Dark Wolf          E-89072 6.639
  16  Vizz               E-91944 7.854 |  49  Wally              E-93746 6.604
  17  Crusader           E-89562 7.837 |  50  Hollywood          E-67384 6.516
  18  Krystall           E-79014 7.809 |  51  Audiokraft         E-43053 6.437
  19  SLiCE              E-09161 7.800 |  52  MALY               E-24755 6.418
  20  Hukkart Live       E-91042 7.797 |  53  Tatekuni Ito       E-40752 6.400
  21  Octoque            E-92148 7.766 |  54  M. Janiszewski     E-29932 6.183
  22  Jester             E-93343 7.658 |  55  PeriSoft           E-99452 6.149
  23  Zapper             E-29044 7.598 |  56  Grave Digger       E-19024 6.056
  23  Lloyd Yoon         E-04045 7.598 |  57  Rama               E-86234 6.027
  24  Primal             E-69962 7.581 |  58  Mhoram             E-12242 5.984
  25  Epeius             E-93244 7.556 |  59  Draygen            E-98742 5.708
  26  Sirrus             E-92442 7.535 |  60  Mild               E-84962 5.313
  27  welti              E-93542 7.484 |  61  The Soulman        E-44753 5.296
  28  Vivid              E-45153 7.463 |  62  The Crow           E-12342 5.000
  29  Stalker            E-49812 7.459 |  63  TheHacker          E-62822 4.945
  30  Rasto Skultety     E-84657 7.437 |  64  Thor               E-93612 4.909
  31  Nexus              E-98343 7.435 |  65  Quarex             E-14325 4.832
  32  Psibelius          E-06427 7.346 |  66  Mr. Crazy Head     E-19424 4.264
  33  PrOtOcOl           E-19124 7.396 |  67  E.v.Y.             E-39413 4.216

 _____Rookie Results

 Rank Author             Song-ID Rated | Rank Author             Song-ID Rated
 ---- ------------------ ------- ----- | ---- ------------------ ------- -----
   1  Mayhem             O-95444 8.740 |  34  Human              O-98462 6.602
   2  Morph              O-09144 8.188 |  35  Joel P. Thornton   O-39962 6.591
   3  Spyder             O-40052 8.144 |  36  Shao Khan          O-89144 6.554
   4  Tangerine          O-95760 7.984 |  37  Fly                O-44159 6.547
   5  Zoso               O-74452 7.889 |  38  Festa              O-40156 6.520
   6  Clef               O-93946 7.843 |  39  Mute               O-41852 6.470
   7  Luv Kohli          O-95342 7.832 |  40  claim              O-34052 6.425
   8  Zeus               O-93162 7.798 |  41  Bozart             O-64054 6.382
   9  Atlantic           O-19646 7.580 |  42  Shrike             O-29342 6.250
  10  Pirat              O-97093 7.552 |  43  Beppu              O-59642 6.236
  11  The Pope           O-39244 7.500 |  44  jUicE!             O-67287 6.224
  12  Aquatic Nuisance   O-89442 7.489 |  45  Kenzaburo Ito      O-48752 6.164
  13  Shuffle            O-69647 7.437 |  46  AmusiC             O-78080 6.077
  14  Kal Zakath         O-34652 7.378 |  47  Castile            O-09746 6.010
  15  Airon              O-40853 7.370 |  48  Nero               O-92512 5.964
  16  Nas-T              O-99849 7.303 |  49  Fredrik Lundqvist  O-71789 5.926
  17  Riders             O-14876 7.298 |  50  Austin Huang       O-79642 5.877
  18  Monaco's           O-94151 7.293 |  51  Kapper             O-79742 5.831
  19  Blackwolf          O-89712 7.237 |  52  Populus            O-69144 5.786
  20  Undertaker         O-92042 7.222 |  53  Andre Uesato       O-90651 5.763
  21  Darth              O-92712 7.217 |  54  Sopepos            O-59241 5.724
  22  Chaotic Mind       O-49516 7.191 |  55  Devious            O-90352 5.720
  23  Daf                O-07223 7.140 |  56  Swift Rain         O-92662 5.712
  24  Malakai            O-09524 6.945 |  57  Thomas Lundgren    O-78489 5.671
  25  NecroMancer        O-70942 6.891 |  58  Synergist          O-49312 5.604
  26  Neuropsy           O-79842 6.851 |  59  NightStrike        O-41152 5.420
  27  Karl               O-29142 6.847 |       & Red Penguin
  28  Daedalus           O-79242 6.814 |  60  White Owl          O-59344 5.409
  29  Heaven             O-94257 6.795 |  61  b0bby              O-39544 5.407
  30  Vector             O-95944 6.780 |  62  Brantley Lancaster O-98642 5.072
  31  Cerebral Neurosis  O-91432 6.777 |  63  Miss Saigon        O-37752 4.942
  32  MASTERWho          O-41252 6.747 |  64  VooDoo             O-99361 4.766
  33  Vladimir The Wik   O-47483 6.658 |  65  Charles Odom       O-98242 2.786

 _____Conclusion

 All results have been checked and there is little chance of error.  If you
 have any questions or comments concerning the results, feel free to send me
 mail.  However, it may take a few days for a response.

 Look for mc3final.zip at an ftp.cdrom.com near you next Sunday.

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com


=------------------------------------------[The Japanese Demo Scene]--[rot-N]-=

 [This article was taken from the comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos newsgroup]

 Hello.  I'm rot-N.  If you feel this is hard to read, please remember
 English is my 2nd language :-)

 I'd like to show you Japanese demos.  Well ..... no ... None. Nothing I can
 introduce to you. Instead of showing you Japanese demos, I will report why
 there is no demos produced in Japan.

 Main PC used in Japan is PC-98 series. This PC was designed to use in
 Japanese office. Their display have 16 colours 640x400 pixels in a screen.
 But that screen display device is not upgradable, and their screen
 resolution is fixed to 640x400 pixels, they don't have low resolution mode.
 (for example 320x200 pixels 256 colours).

 PC-98s hi-resolution graphic screen (640x400 16 colours) is 2 times slower
 than PC-ATs mode-13h (320x200 256 colours) graphics. And they have less
 colours. 16-colours are not enough for games. So when game publisher made a
 game for PC-98, they gave up making high-speed graphic routine. But they
 tried hard to display beautiful colour (colour of skin especially :-) ).

 Then they thought, the only 2 games that they can use that routine are
 graphic-ADV and graphic-RPG with naked-Jap-animation girls. Yes. Those kind
 of games don't require fast graphics routines.

 Last time I had been to Akihabara (famous electronics town in Japan), I was
 looking for a software to see what kind of games amateur programmers are
 coding.  Awesome... hmm what's awesome? They are sold in shrinked package.
 In the package there are manuals floppys and a photo of the game's screen
 shot. Almost all of that photo are naked- Jap-animation girl's pictures.

 I think something strange when think about the gamer playing those kind of
 games in there room alone. (sitting in front of the console , looking
 display , saying "strip off... take off clothes... " wao :)

 No need to say, the girl on the screen is not photo realistic. I say again,
 they are all Jap-Animation girls. Can we call them PC-Gamer ?

 In the other hand, games for other consoles (NES,SNES,Genesis..etc) are
 fine. When Programmer write a game for them, he does not need to think
 about the speed of the screen. There VDPs power is strong enough. So
 naked-Jap-anim-girl games for those console are minor. But unfortunately
 amateur programmer can't make games for them.

 So amateur programmer in Japan knows how to display colours (of the
 skin :-) on the screen beautifully. But does not have technique to display
 on screen faster, say to do vecter graphics ...

 Last time I had been to Japanese book store , I found a book about CG. I
 expected vector graphics and voxels, but they are all "How to draw
 Jap-animation Girls" :-) I found "Shading" in that book, but it is "shade
 of human (woman :-)) body"

 May be you can find why "OTAKU" is negative word in Japan :-).

 By the way , European coders have AMIGA and their Mega-Demo culture. When
 they bought fast 486-PC, they began to make demos for PC. But in Japan,
 only a few people knows Amiga, and limited person in that group knows
 Amiga-Demos.

 The lack of Japanese demo is caused by strange game culture in Japan. (that
 culture is caused by PC-98s slow screen). So as long as Japanese people
 using PC-98, they have their own PC-Game culture.  You don't need to pay
 attention to Japanese Games and Demos.

 Do you want to see naked-Jap-animation girls in the demo, instead of cool
 shaded vector graphics?

 Thank you for reading my poor English.

 rot-N


=-[Interviews]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=------------------------------[Interview with Zodiac/Cascada by Ryan Cramer]-=

 Greetings! This is the first interview that I've done in a long time. Those
 of you that read DemoNews back in the days (about a year ago) probably
 recognize my name as I used to do a lot of these interviews. Well I am very
 pleased that DemoNews is once again back, and we have an awesome interview
 for you with Zodiak of Cascada!

 Zodiak is the veteran of all scene veterans. He was probably the very first
 PC DemoScene musician. His group, Cascada, existed back when there were no
 other demo groups on the PC. He has seen the PC scene change over the years
 and is a very fascinating person to talk to. Our interview here covers a
 lot on the vintage days of the scene.

 Besides the fact that Zodiak has been in the scene for so long, he also is
 one of the scene's top musicians. In the charts, Zodiak has always been in
 the top five musicians in the scene. Anyone that has heard Zodiak's music
 (which probably includes all of you) knows how incredibly talented Zodiak
 is.

 It would be impossible for me to list all of the projects that he has done
 music for over the years. He has done music for demo's such as Cronologia
 (the scene's first real demo), HexAppeal, Holistic, and many intros. He
 also won first place in the The Party '94 and The Party '95 multichannel
 music competitions. Zodiak also has a music disk with $volkraq coming out
 soon which will really be nice to hear!

 I was first introduced to Zodiak's music when I saw Cascada's Cronologia
 demo for the first time. The music was awe inspiring. The song "DarkDays"
 from the Cronologia end credits has always been one of my favorite songs.

 Many scene musicians were introduced to the scene through Zodiak's music
 (including myself). Zodiak is definitely one of the scene's most respected
 musicians, and I am very happy that we were able to do this interview for
 you to read. The interview was conducted via email in early July 1995.
 Enjoy!

 RC = Ryan Cramer / Renaissance        - rcramer@osf1.gmu.edu
 ZK = Zodiak / Cascada (Erik Stridell) - zodiak@kuai.se
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 RC: What is your current occupation, age, and where do you live?

 ZK: I'm in my 19th year and live in a little town called Surahammar,
     just outside Vasteras which lies about 120 kilometers west of
     Stockholm - the capital of Sweden.

     My current occupation is...none - I guess you could say I'm happily
     unemployed. I will most likely be working full time with our
     (Cascada's) Virtual Reality project as soon as we can get some more
     funding but until then I guess I'm stuck out here in the countryside...
     I might take a course in studio-technology in the autumn.

 RC: Can you tell us how Cascada originated? What were your first
     productions, and how long ago was this?

 ZK: Well, there was in fact no demoscene on PC when we started. I think
     it was sometime in 1989. I had a little group together with Shadowbyte
     (currently a Codeblasters-member), but I guess we weren't doing much,
     we mostly played around with his Amiga. We weren't very old I guess...
     hehe let's see.. - '89, I must have been 13 years old and Shadowbyte
     was 12!!!

     I had been swapping programs with Iceman (who later coded most of the
     Cascada stuff during 1990-93) and I know he could do some stuff in
     Turbo Pascal so I asked him to do some intros for my group (we actually
     cracked some games - which was not that hard back then when there were
     only three new games released per month ;-) ) and later tried to get
     him to join our group, but he had found a friend in Pharos (who coded
     everything that Iceman didn't during the same period) who wanted to
     start a new group. And he could program in assembler (it is important
     to understand how incredible this was in 1989)!

     However I was very happy when Iceman called me up a few weeks later and
     asked me if I wanted to join their new group, Omega. We cracked some
     games and made trainers during 1989 and half 1990 but then in the
     summer of 1990 we decided it didn't make much sense so we started to
     think about making demos on PC like the ones we had seen on Amiga.

     So after lots of theories in how you could do a music system on a PC we
     released the infamous X-mas'90 demo which was the first demo ever with
     a music system. Some people claim that the Future Crew was before but I
     insist that their slide show that was released a few months before is
     not a demo, just still pics with music ;-))

     It didn't matter anyway because there were no contact between the
     scenes back then, only national competition - and our competition was
     the SpacePigs. If you don't count our scrollers and colorcycling
     bouncing logos back in 1989 for the group Omega, I guess the first real
     production was out in early December 1990.

 RC: Cascada is considered to be one of the founders of the PC demoscene,
     especially with their ground breaking Cronologia demo. Can you describe
     the demoscene and Cascada to us at that time?

 ZK: When Cronologia was released, lots of things had happened to the
     scene. First of all, the bbs-scene had started to prosper. This meant
     that the days of mailswapping had come to an end. Before that my only
     contact with the world outside was my mail to Dutch Computer
     Enterprise (the makers of the Dragnet demo) who supplied me with all
     the mid-European stuff and with BCG/Sorcerers who got me the stuff
     from Finland.

     I like to think I really did the scene a favor at that time,
     distributing everything over the borders. However, when Cronologia came
     there had been many new groups popping up and we had had the first
     PC-only party ever (I think at least) - the SpacePigs/Cascada party in
     Uppsala in the summer of 1991 where we even had international visitors
     - Dutch Computer Enterprise.

     We had shown Cronologia there which was originally called "Time", a mix
     of part two and three of Cronologia. Then Pharos coded the first part
     and Iceman the last part and we thought why not do a megademo. We were
     a bit afraid that it would be considered too big though... it didn't
     fit on a 360kb disk!!! After lots of messing up and making other parts
     (that wasn't included in the final version, we had from the beginning
     seven parts). We had also got some new members, for example Jeffe and
     Mirage who are still members.

     I think my biggest mistake ever in the scene was to write my own
     address instead of Iceman's in the text files. I shouldn't have
     directed the reactions to myself. I got all the fancy letters (and
     there were MANY letters!) while Iceman and Pharos who had done the hard
     coding just got some nice words. This finally caused them to get tired
     of the scene - so much work for nothing.

     If Iceman would still have had the spirit I think Cascada would have
     been a much bigger name today, for example he made a real bitmapvector
     just a few weeks after Cronologia which he didn't want to release
     because we didn't have anything to go with it. Imagine a textured cube
     in January '92! So take this as a lesson, kids!

 RC: How/When did you get started tracking music and on what platform?
     What other musicians influenced you at this time?

 ZK: In early 1990 when Pharos made his music system there was no such
     thing as a working PC-tracker. So I bought an Amiga. I wanted to do
     that anyway, all the fancy demo came on that platform. I guess I was
     very inspired by the early Amiga-demo-music cause that's all I got
     hold of, I never had the contacts to get new Amiga stuff (and I didn't
     care much either, I just played around in Noisetracker).

     So I was mostly inspired by "real" music, which was probably good for
     me because that made me develop my own style very early. There was just
     about no techno-music at all back then so I tried to do just plain good
     songs with the instruments from the ST:00-04 disks.. Then in 1991 I got
     to be the beta-tester of the SpacePigs' tracker Digistudio (which was
     later released commercially by Covox) so I started tracking on the PC
     instead, and all the mods in Cronologia are made in Digistudio (with a
     noisy resistor-D/A in the LPT port).

 RC: You have done a lot of fantastic music over the years, what do you
     consider to be your best work?

 ZK: Thanks! Well I wouldn't call it fantastic but I admit there are tunes
     that I am quite happy with. I always tend to tire of them before I'm
     half finished though and they never ever sound like I wanted them to,
     but then when I listen to them a few weeks later I kinda like some of
     them.

     Believe it or not, but that horrible hard-rock tune in the middle of
     our first demo, X-mas'90 is one of my favorites. If the samples weren't
     so horrible it would have been perfectly good power-rock. ;-) Then I
     "sort-of-like" Reflecter, I was a bit nervous when I made it that it
     would be just total crap to all other people - maybe I was the only one
     who would understand it? But I was proven the opposite in the Party4
     voting. ;-)

 RC: What software/hardware/equipment do you use for tracking and sampling?

 ZK: I currently have a Gusmax which I used to be very happy with but am
     not anymore as the card itself takes in a lot of noise from other
     cards which can cause some fuzz and silent clicks. I use FastTracker2
     for everything, sometimes I do use USS8 for sampling things in high
     resolution and sometimes CoolEdit to make flanging, filter and
     white/brown noise.

 RC: What experience in music do you have outside of tracking?

 ZK: I play the guitar in a band which does currently not have a name.
     I would like to get into the music-industry more. I guess you could
     say we play the kind of music that comes in between Joy Division and
     PJ Harvey... To be honest, most of my music-creativity rather goes
     into that band instead of the tracker-tunes, so that's a reason why
     I am not usually very productive. Hope you'll all be buying my
     albums in the future! ;-)

 RC: What is the future for Cascada and Cascada/VR? Will you be doing more
     demos (maybe for ASM'95)?

 ZK: I like to think we will but to be totally honest I doubt there will
     be any bigger productions from us. I think there are chances that we
     will release small stuff just to show our routines to people now and
     then but unless we can find some more coders there won't be any more
     large releases. So any good Swedish coder who wants to join in,
     contact me!

     The next production from me is a musicdisk I'm doing together with
     $volkraq/Gollum, dedicated to all you fans of guitar music. It was
     going to be released at the Bushparty but not too surprisingly I
     didn't make it in time... Guess it should be out soon.

 RC: Who's better, Pamela Anderson or Erika Eleniak? Give us an objective
     unbiased comparison. Do you think that Erika will ever return to
     Babewatch?

 ZK: Pamela was better until she married that stoopid heavy metal drummer
     and started to make silly tattoos. Erika was undoubtedly a better
     actor (like if that would matter..hehe), and her body measures are
     much more natural than Pamela's. She's by far more woman than Pamela
     will ever be. And she could weep much better. I agree that Pamela
     makes it better in Playboy magazine, but she shouldn't wear a
     swimsuit, she looks better without it. Besides, Erika is a much more
     beautiful name ;)   So ERIKA!!! Come BACK! ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!!!

 Interviewer's Note: Please note that the above opinions do not necessarily
 represent those of the DemoNews crew. Some of us have grown more partial to
 Pamela Anderson, but Erika Eleniak will always be welcome in any one of our
 homes.

 RC: You have been part of the PC demoscene since its birth, can you tell us
     how it has changed over the years, and if it as interesting as it used
     to be?

     Oh.. that's a hard one. For my part I think it was much much much more
     fun before when everyone was always friends with each other, when you
     released or showed something new you always got positive criticism
     along with the possible negative one.

     Nowadays it sometimes seems (at least in the mailnets like GSN and DGI)
     that it's almost not allowed to really like a demo. Especially the
     finnish people just can't seem to like the new stuff. Everything sucks.
     Always. It's so childish!

     In the beginning of the scene nobody had to brag or show off, everyone
     knew what had been done and what to expect from each other. But
     something happened after "Unreal". It's very hard to define what, but
     the scene became very hard and sometimes cruel, and it's just getting
     worse.

     Some people felt that they had to be as cool as the best groups so
     everyone who wasn't as experienced as themselves were suddenly lamers,
     and all their work sucked. If I had been working on a demo for many
     months I wouldn't want to hear that it sucks!!

     I think many new groups who make demos aren't encouraged by the glory
     of being on top, they want vengeance and respect. Why do groups have to
     fight each other??? I don't know what has happened but I have many
     times found myself wishing it was 1990 all over again.

 RC: For awhile, Cascada and Imphobia had merged, but soon separated again.
     What happened, and why?

 ZK: The reason for the merge was mainly that the only really active
     person in Cascada at the time was myself, and as we weren't doing
     anything for the scene I helped Imphobia as I had found a good friend
     in Jeff (Darkness/IMP). This little co-operation ended up in a merged
     group.

     We worked on a demo that was to be released at the Assembly'94, but the
     time schedule screwed up completely (as it always does when you make
     demos) so we didn't make it in time and then the coder had to study
     etcetera etcetera so the demo wasn't finished off. We both tried to
     make the cooperation work but it was impossible to keep in touch as
     neither of us even had email back then so I decided to simply leave the
     group, that would be the best for everyone.

     And since Basehead joined Imphobia they've got a brilliant musician
     anyway, so they don't need me anymore. Going back to question five, I
     really like the tunes I made for the unfinished Imphobia-demo because
     they came directly from my head and were really great fun to do. Pity
     if no one will hear them in the end.. but I haven't lost faith in
     Imphobia!

 RC: I'm not sure that everyone understands exactly what Cascada/VR is. Has
     Cascada successfully gone from a demogroup to a commercial software
     company? Has this been profitable for Cascada? I think that many
     demo groups aspire to one day form a company.

 ZK: Cascada/VR are just the four Cascada members that are currently
     developing a VR-system; myself, Robban, Roberto(Hellraiser) and Mirage.
     We have a company but nothing is happening with it. Since 1993 we have
     been struggling with different contracts with a few companies but we
     unfortunately haven't yet succeeded to get all the funding right. It
     has not yet been profitable in any way whatsoever! But we're hoping that
     it will be in the future.

     A word of wisdom for all you demo-enthusiasts dreaming of doing what we
     have done: - Think twice! No, thrice!! Four or five times is not too
     much!!! Don't think there's any easy money involved in this business.
     Be ready to work your arse off for absolutely nothing in return. If
     you make it through there can be lots of money involved, but be well
     aware of what you're getting into.

 RC: What are your current musical influences, either in recorded music or
     tracked music?

 ZK: That's hard to say.. I don't get any inspiration from tracked music. It
     might sound weird, but music that gives me inspiration often sounds
     totally opposite to what I am doing. Usually melodies just pop up in my
     head or leak to my fingers while playing the guitar.

     I guess I could drop some band-names, I am a great fan of Indie-pop and
     alternative rock-music; The Verve, Smiths, Pavement, Portishead,
     Slowdive, The Stone Roses, Catherine Wheel and so on, but I also like
     jazz and atmospheric music like Mike Oldfield and Andreas Vollenweider.
     Of course good old pop like the Beatles and the Box Tops. And Paul
     Simon rules ok. I guess it's safe to say that I appreciate all kinds of
     music.

 RC: Are you competing in MC3?

 ZK: Unfortunately not, I didn't make it to the deadline. Hopefully next time
     around.

 RC: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview!

 ZK: Thanks, we'll keep in touch!!

 [End of Interview]
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Hope you enjoyed the interview! Zodiak can be reached through email at:
 zodiak@kuai.se

 Ryan Cramer / Renaissance - rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu


=-[Advertisements]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=------------------------------------------------[PMODE/W v1.20]--[Daredevil]-=

 PMODE/W is a replacement for DOS/4GW and is fully compatible with WATCOM
 C/C+.  PMODE/W provides you with a number of advantages over DOS/4GW. The
 following is just a small list of what you can expect:
 
   - Extender size is less than 10k
   - Self contained extender is internal to the EXE
   - Eliminates the need for DOS4GW.EXE
   - Fully compatible with WATCOM C/C++
   - Fast execution time
   - Protected mode EXE compression
   - Low memory overhead
   - Does not require ANY extended memory to load OR execute
   - Minimal interrupt latency
   - Uncompressed PMODE/W programs can run under DOS/4GW without modification
   - Free for non-commercial use
 
 Changes In Version 1.20:

   - PMWLITE executable compression
   - See UPDATES.DOC for bug fixes
 
 PMODE/W v1.20 has just been released. You should be able to retrieve it
 from one of the following sources:
 
 FTP:

   ftp://www2.idsonline.com/pub/pmodew/pmw120.zip
   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/demos/incoming/code/pmw120.zip
   [check the "New Uploads" section to see where this file gets moved]
 
 BBS:

   Data Connection BBS  +1-703-506-8598
                        +1-703-847-0861
 
 Charles Scheffold / Renaissance - daredevi@dorsai.dorsai.org


=-[Subscribing]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 _____How to subscribe to DemoNews

   #1 E-mail to listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za (any subject line will do)

   #2 On the first line in the body of the mail, write:

        subscribe demuan-list FirstName LastName

      Examples:

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   #3 Send it

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      Do not specify any address or name when you unsubscribe.  The
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 _____Having Trouble?

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   at r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu.


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

 For questions and comments, you can contact Hornet at:

   Handle       Address                   Area
   -----------  ------------------------  -----------------------------------
   Dan Wright   dmw@inca.gate.net         Freedom CD coordinator
   Floss        norg@cyberspace.com       Music Contest 3 coordinator
   GraveDigger  gd@ftp.cdrom.com          columnist, file mover, musician
   Ior          jroth@coyote.csusm.edu    columnist
   JsNO         jsno@amigar.apana.org.au  coder
   Meriadoc     meriadoc@xs4all.nl        columnist, coder
   Popcorn      campbell@fox.nstn.ca      editor (TraxWeekly)
   Ryan Cramer  rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu     columnist
   Snowman      r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com       organizer, editor (DemoNews), coder
   Stony        p.vanmun0@hsbos.nl        graphician
   Trixter      trixter@ftp.cdrom.com     coder, web master, file mover


..........................................................End.of.DemoNews.097.


