. founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 108 ______________ |___| _ _______/ /\___________________________ / ____________/ /\__\ _ _______/____/_____________________________ / / _________ \/__/ ______\ \_____________________________ / / / `_ . .~ \____\/ _ __ ___ / / / _____ . _ \ __ ___ _/__/\ / / / / /\ _ The Music Scene Newsletter __ __\__\/ _/__/ / ____/ /__\_________________________________ _____ ___ _ / /\/ /___ __________ _ ______ _ ___ \/ /\ / / /____/ \ \ / /\ / __/\ / /\ \ \ / \ /____/ / / \ / \/ /_ \___/___/ \ \_/___/ / \_/ / / \ ___\ / /_/ /______/\/ \ /______/\/ \ /_____/ // \ \ / / / \ / / \ \ \ \_\ \ \ \_\ \ //____/\____\/ / / / / / \______\/ \______\/ \_____\/ \ \ \ \ / / / / \____\/\____\ / / / / _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ / / / /__/ w /\___/ /\___/ e /\___/ /\__ / l /\___/ /\____/ / / __/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/________/ / __\ \____\ e \____\ \____\ k \ ___\ \____\ y \__________/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/WW ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | TraxWeekly Issue #108 | Release date: 09 Aug 1997 | Subscribers: 960 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ]--[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------[ Welcome to TraxWeekly Issue #108! This week features a large bulk of reader email that addresses the question of what should be featured in future issues of TraxWeekly. We have included some of the better suggestions here. Thanks to everyone who gave us some sort of feedback! Articles include a continuing discussion on sound cards, proper uploading of music disks to ftp.hornet.org, and something you all will really enjoy: A collection of hilarious and/or outrageous judging comments from the first round voting of Music Contest 5! Congratulations to everyone who made the cut for round two! And what would an issue be without a TraxCulture? =) Enjoy the issue! Gene Wie (Psibelius) TraxWeekly Publishing gwie@csusm.edu ]--[Contents]----------------------------------------------------------------[ ________ _________________________________________________________________ / ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_ < \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \__ \ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_ _\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\ Letters and Feedback 1. Letter from the editor to Xenoc 2. Letter from Beacon 3. Letter from Stone-o 4. Letter from Lachlan Barclay 5. Letter from Mark Bradley 6. Letter from Lala General Articles 7. Carded Sound..................................Centurion 8. Archiving Hornet..............................Snowman 9. MC5 Round One.................................MC5 Entrants 10. TraxCulture...................................Random Lamers Closing Distribution Subscription/Contribution Information TraxWeekly Staff Sheet ]--[Letters and Feedback]----------------------------------------------------[ --[1. Letter from the editor to Xenoc]---------------------------------------- From gwie@owl.csusm.eduWed Aug 6 00:21:19 1997 Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 00:20:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Gene Wie To: Xenoc Subject: Re: letter > You really ought to consider your journalistic ethics. Trax or not, > traxweekly is not a tabloid, but you have treated it that way. What > really did you or anyone else gain from reading my private mail to > somebody who I am unhappy with? Nothing, I'd imagine. And please, > don't use my poor judgement as an excuse, for not only have I been > ridiculed for it plenty, it was not directed toward you or any other > scener, either. A few things: 1. If TraxWeekly was a forum to discuss ethics, we might as well just close it down and be done with it because all that is really entertaining and/or amusing depends on the clashing of opinions and ideas within the scene. While we do try and focus on music and its issues, sometimes we need to pull in material for reader entertainment. 2. Welcome to the internet, where email in any way or form is not very "private" in any sense at all. Also, I am not in the business of sneaking away with other people's mail. They send them to me for a reason: they want to see them publicized. Their reasoning? They want to see someone suffer some form of embarassment/ridicule for opening their mouth. If someone sends me a message for that reason, I will probably run it. I am not in the business of censoring any one side, and I certainly will not cover up issues. 3. Group politics irritate me, and I do my best to expose it irrationality with every change I get. It does not matter to me who is in what group, what group releases what crap. What bothers me the most is when people start firing bombshells and don't do any research. Ryan Hunt currently cannot update the web page if he wants to. Having suffered a hardare mishap, he is without a modem in which to conduct phluid's affairs. He has no money with which to purchase another, because more important things like utilities, gasoline, and food are first in the budget. However, I do wish to apologize for any animosity that has been directed towards you because of the running of your message to radman. It is not my intention to "piss off" anyone. I just hope that next time you find it fit to tell off someone, please leave the people who have done nothing to provoke out of it? And perhaps, if there ever is a next time, please inform your group coordinator that its very bad form to claim that "so-and-so never wrote that letter" when in fact it was actually written and sent. It makes me less inclined to trust their opinions in the future, because I hate people that lie to me. But again, my apologies for any inconvenience you might have suffered (no matter how virtual) because of my actions. Regards, G. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[2. Letter from Beacon]----------------------------------------------------- First of all, let me give the Traxweekly staff my compliments for bringing the tracker music scene together on a weekly (well, almost ;) basis. I see the scene as a place where the young musical talents of tomorrow are being nurtured and matured. Musicians have the opportunity to publish their music to a wide audience, and to get much-needed feedback on how they're doing. People make contacts from all over the globe, contests are held for the mere fun of it AND for promoting new talents. In a few years, we will no doubt see that many of the trackers today up in the skies of music production in the commercial market. On this behalf I have the following suggestions to Traxweekly: * Invite people to write articles and ads on how and where to publish music, tips on how to package your demos, how to expand your music hardware, where to send your custom music-videos etc. etc. In short, I'd like to see more articles helping the trackers to get up and ahead. Of course there is no receipt on success, but some advice would surely be of great help. And NO, I don't mean articles such as "How to get started with Impulse Tracker" ;D * Bring back more interviews, as many of the people interviewed in Traxweekly will, no doubt, make it big-time in the time ahead. Remember that renowned artists such as The Black Dog were active in the now increasingly old days of "BBS-music". I'd love to see artists refer to Traxweekly and the tracker scene in music magazines such as The Wire (for instance). * Also I'd like to see some short notices on the movement in the commercial area of music making. Especially I'd like to exchange information on new and up-and-coming (commercial) labels around the world (and not only ads from TRSI Records ;). Just think of being one of the lucky people being signed to a prodigious label in the very start, such as Wall of Sound or Delancey Street once were. Of course, these suggestions rely on the READERS to contribute, but these things will certainly not happen if no-one tells what we want. In the meantime, as always, keep up the good work. I've got a dr Pepper to catch. Support the scene! Cheers, beacon/sublevel3 Christian Stigen Larsen, chrisl@fm.unit.no ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[3. Letter from Stone-o]---------------------------------------------------- Hi Psibelius! I'm a tracker from Germany, Hamburg. I want to answer your question what I want to have in TW:) I'm very interested in the tunes of other people, but I often don't know where to get them. Maybe you could make an article with the best Trax-websides, would help me to save a lot of money:) I'm also interested in synthezisers, because I don't have one myself and don't know too much about them. And maybe a test of Softsynth would be cool ,too. Are there any you can really use? This article about soundcards in the last TW was very interesting. An Article what a tracker should buy for equipment would be cool, too. Maybe like this: 1. Buy a PC 2. Buy an AWE32 3. Get Impulse Tracker 4. Hmmmm can you help me? And what I also want to know: Are there any other Traxpapers beside TW? Of course I would never stop reading it, but I want more Trax stuff. Are there any Traxbooks? On which IRC server do i meat the coolest guys? meet ho ho Hey jo TW is cool! (although I don't understand everything in it:) ) Keep on the good work Bye, Stone-o STONE-O@ProjektA.nshift.de ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[4. Letter from Lachlan Barclay]-------------------------------------------- To Psibelius, > Readers! What do you want to see in TraxWeekly? Interviews? TraxCulture? > Private and potentially embarassing email conversations? ;) Please let us > know! What I readlly would like to see is a listing of mod of the week. Not .MOD exactly but music file of the week (MOD S3M IT XM whatever). There are so many good mods and so many crap ones out there I don't know what to get. Having one pick of the week (or month) or a list of classic mods would be great! Mod of the week! Also a "charts" list where trax readers can vote would be good. Not a crappy style MTV charts, but proper, user votable ones! There you go! Thanks man, Lachlan Barclay s943011@mhs.schnet.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[5. Letter from Mark Bradley]----------------------------------------------- You asked what we would like to see in Trax Weekly..... Well, personally I have really enjoyed and benefitted from reading the tracking guides. It is really cool that there are people out there with more talent and/or experience than myself who are willing to share their technical knowledge with others. The scene has come a long way in the year or two I have been out of it. Perhaps in future you could have an article or three particularly aimed at those like myself who never progressed much past "newbie" status. I for one am sick of using other people's samples, and want to know how to find, record and edit my own samples. Simple stuff like how to make effective loops (you should hear my attempts at a looped string or synth note...*shudder*). And maybe just moreof the little tips to improve your tracks.... Keep up the good work. Respect, Mark Bradley m.bradley@student.canberra.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[6. Letter from Lala]------------------------------------------------------- Hi all! Vincent Voois had an interesting, and fairly objective article about soundcards in TW #133, but let me just point out a few things: >Advantages of AWE in comparance to GUS: > >-AWE has digital processing circuit implemented, offers a neat effect > on your playing environment in chorussing and reverbing, when you > have good quality samples these things can make your song sound very > professional. Yes, I know Vincent was comparing the AWE to the GUS MAX, but just to defend Gravis, the PnP series (with the AMD InterWave processor) have built-in effects. Okay, so it's only echo and reverb, and only mono, but hey, it's more than nothing! :) >-Memory up to 28 MB The GUS PnP can have 8 MB at most (which is a lot more than the 1MB limit of the MAX). As for Vincent's comments on what a decent soundcard should have: >-OPL and/or MOS 6581 implementation :) This made me smile. The Commodore-64's SID chip lives on!!! A few (old :) people reading TraxWeekly might be interested in that there is a fantastic SID chip emulator available for MANY platforms. It's called SIDPlay, created by Michael Schwendt: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5147/ It is the most accurate 6581 emulator available out there, it even emulates the filter! (Yes, it has some trouble with mixed waveforms, but nothing can be perfect in this world. :) Of course, an emulator in itself is not very interesting without the musics themselves. Do the names of Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, Ben Daglish et al. ring a bell to you? Wait no more, the High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC for short) is the best organized C64 music collection: http://www.dhp.com/~shark/c64music/hv_sids/ It contains over 4000 (!) C64 musics in a well-organized, continuously updated collection. Even if you were not a proud C64 owner, you should listen to some of these tunes, as I think, *THESE* were the basis of today's MOD musics, way before the Amiga came into existense. They are damn good, too, and never more than 64 KB in size! :) PS: This could've been a paid advertisement by HVSC, but since I am also one of the maintainers of HVSC, I did it just for fun and to stir up nostalgy. ;) LaLa (Imre Olajos Jr.) lala@interaccess.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ]--[General Articles]--------------------------------------------------------[ --[7. Carded Sound]----------------------------------------------[Centurion]-- I'm responding to an article by Vincent Voois in TW107 which compared AWE32/GUS/EWS. The article mostly criticized the AWE but contained many inaccuracies and misstatements which I have pointed out. The author seems to be stating his love for the Gravis sound cards more than he is comparing them accurately with the other two mentioned cards. >Gravis is capable of offering clear quality and sounding in wavetable >what Soundblaster x.x/pro/16 does with software mixing, but then >without NOISE (no offense against the music group:)). With the 32 bit interpolation included in Impulse Tracker the noise from software mixing is virtually eliminated, and other software mixing such as that included in Cubic or MikIT are even better than hardware mixing, although very CPU intensive. >Disadvantages of the AWE in comparison to GUS tested in Impulse >Tracker which is one of the less editors supporting AWE: This statement gives away VV's bias against the AWE but still is accurate. Few, if any, other trackers support the EMU8000, although they still support the AWE if you use the software mixing for SB16. Still, Impulse Tracker was used as the constant in the testing, and this is not the most appropriate place in the article to criticize the AWE. >-30 hardware tracks, Creative says 32 but they lie, it is 30, > EMU8000 only supports 30 tracks. Only partially correct. The EMU8000 does support 32 channels if using ROM samples but because of the way it accesses its RAM it sacrifices 2 of its channels. As an IT playback device, the AWE does have 30 channels. Apparently this was a mistake on Creative's part. >-44.1 Khz hardware frequency limit: most GUS samples sampled above > 44Khz or will be played with a Khz rate above 44.1 will not be > sounded at all! This statement is entirely incorrect. The hardware limit is 180 Khz, not 44.1, which would be very limiting. The 180 Khz limit is suitable for most songs, although sometimes a little irritating. Also you are ignoring the fact that the GF1 chip used in the GUS decreases its playback frequency if more than 16 channels are used simultaneously. >-Canned sound: The AWE may sound warmer than it's SB x.x/pro/16 > variants, it is still sounding canned and it has depreciated it's > warm base environment which sounds colder than in SB x.x/pro/16 mode! This is a very unclear statement, but apparently is based on opinion. For an accurate and fair comparison, statements should be based on fact, not opinion. >What a decent sound card should have to my opinion: >-68Khz hardware frequency range, Again, you are basing this on your assumption that the AWE's limit is 44.1khz. Ideally the limit should be higher than 180 Khz. >For firm in averages, GUS wins in all, for professionally: EWS wins >above AWE. Now I had to laugh when I read this. Bugs aside, the EWS is undoubtedly the best sound card a mod freak (and arguably a midi freak) can buy, and saying the GUS is the best would be a great distortion. The Digital I/O alone makes it a better card, not to mention 64 hardware channels and reverbs/choruses. If properly supported by tracker programs this sound card is by far the best on the market. >Let's not discuss the SB 64-bit sound card since it requires a pentium >90 as a minimum system requirement because it has totally NO onboard >RAM. Again you are making incorrect statements, the AWE64 is not 64-bit, but 64 voices in MIDI. The AWE64 comes with 512k RAM, the AWE64 Gold has 4 MB RAM. The reason it requires a Pentium-90 is because it also includes WaveSynth/WG which is a 32 channel software midi synthesizer for Windows 3.1 or WIN95 (16 bit and 32 bit versions are available.) It has its own GM bank which cannot be altered and includes a large number of reverbs and choruses. Although the synth is stereo, the effects are only available in mono (unlike the EMU8000) but otherwise are comparable in quality. As stated before, Wavesynth is entirely software mixed, which, especially when using DSPs, is very CPU-intensive. It still includes the EMU8000 to supply the other 32 voices (or 30 using RAM samples.) Although I appreciate your comparisons, I don't think they were very objective or scientific in testing methods. -David Friberg AKA Centurion gf53514@navix.net davidfriberg@juno.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[8. Archiving Hornet]--------------------------------------------[Snowman]-- Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 01:38:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Christopher G Mann To: tcarey@op.net Subject: Grrrrr....... I have removed groove2[a-d].zip Reason? See UPLOAD.NFO... Subdirectory specifics: /incoming/music/disks - Music disks/packs must contain either 4+ songs or an .exe player. --> One .zip file per music disk! Do not include embedded .zip files in your upload (i.e. unzip myupload.zip and happy1.zip, happy2.zip, happy3.zip... appear). Disk filesize must not exceed 8192k (8388608 bytes), compressed. I don't just make these rules up to be a mean. There are very important reasons why these are in place. This rule for example, is in place to: 1. Keep the average size of music disks from growing (in bytes) too quickly. A music disk that is split over 4 parts (like yours) is deceptive. It's still around 7 megs in size. Big music disks hurt the archive by eating up more room. Although we have no problem with keeping big music disks online if they are good, the public rating system is not yet in place to remove 4/5ths of the music disks that are 8 megs and crappy. 2. I am tired of handling email from people who can't understand the concept of multiple .zip files for one production. It's even harder doing stuff like technical support for people who bought a CDROM and have to manually extract each part from the CD in order to make things work correctly. See Hornet Underground Volume 1/2, Hornet MODS Volume 1. 3. Author/Group pages list the numbers of productions for each given person and group. Having 4 .zip files for 1 music disk by Analogue Music means that Analogue has essentially uploaded 4 unique productions (to the Hornet Archive's way of thinking). This provides misleading information to users ("Oh wow! They have 37 Analogue Music productions online!", "Sorry, just 10... each music disk has many parts"). Additionally, this takes away the possibility for us to do any kind of uploading limits based on NUMBER of files uploaded. We might need to do this in the future, we might not. But it's good to keep your doors open. It is safe for you to assume that there are at least 2 other good reasons, as well as rational reasons for all of the other /incoming/music rules. r3cgm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[9. MC5 Round One]------------------------------------------[MC5 Entrants]-- This past Monday (August 4, 1997), the results for the first round of Music Contest 5 were released to the scene public. Over three hundred entries competed and were judged by over one hundred judges. Today, TraxWeekly is proud to bring you some of the more enlightening comments given to songs by MC5 judges (who will remain unnamed =). For those of you who have any funny our outrageous judging comments to share, please email them to . At this time we are *not* interested in the name or contact for any particular judges. ----- "...it just flows around (in the middle of nowhere?)." "I give it points for originality and creativity, but its repetition is what is holding it back. Sounds like the entire song is 1 pattern copied over and over and over and..." "Sounds a little martian version of line dancing. :P" "Feels light n' fluffy, ... However, the "fluffiness" gets lost a little when the highs get busy." "Ugh. Piercing noise sample almost made my head explode." "Main lead in the middle part sounds like it came from a softcore porno flick on Showtime (not that I would know...*whistle*)." "Slightly above mediocrity. This sounds like one of two things: an up-and-coming tracker who entered above his/her division with their best song, or an accomplished (not has-been ;) ) tracker who entered a half-ass effort. Either way, it can and will get better. Hopefully. But, it don't suck, Willis!" "*Yawn* I think I fell asleep during this song. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I believe I heard the same lead at least 8 times. This is decently /tracked/, but poorly composed. If this song had, at any time, changed, I may have enjoyed it more. This tracker needs to learn that variety is good, and the same old crap is just that - crap. I think I'll go back to bed now..." "This tune would benefit from some chords" "here's a quarter; go buy some tracking talent." "I'm being really nice giving this song a med. score." "After listening this song through, the listener must be unbelievably annoyed and bored. Veteran division? Get a life." "Here's one of those songs that makes you think "why did this person even bother to take the time to upload it?" .. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Grating on the ears, poor sample choice, no talent whatsoever displayed, even for a beginner. Next, please." "The title seems to imply some relationship, or desired relationship, to the Siren that's created numerous module-format gems, and I can say that this is mildly successful in the area of dramatics, but not even remotely in terms of production or presentation. Siren's an excellent choice for pagan idolatry, but you--the composer--have size 18 shoes to fill." "I really don't think it was necessary to enter this song into competition." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --[10. TraxCulture]------------------------------------------[Random Lamers]-- T R A X _____ __ __ __ _______ __ __ ______ _____ _____________/ __/\/ /\/ // //__ __// /\/ /\/ ____/\ / __/____________ /____________/ /__\/ /_/ // /_\ / /\_/ /_/ / / _ \_\// __/____________/\ \___________/_____//_____//____//_/ //_____/ /__\___/\/____/\____________\/ \_____\\_____\\____\\_\/ \_____\/\___\__\/\____\/ww Note: TraxCulture is not intended to be taken seriously as a general view or perspective of the members of #trax on the world itself. It is a collection of comments of people wasting their time on IRC saying many stupid things they otherwise wouldn't. If you are easily offended, please avoid reading this article. ozstrid: help, I'm confused. Who is this??? =) psibelius: It's ozone and Astrid dorqie psibelius: Yeah, you dumb Asian ozone: you ARE asian, you dumb asian :))))) trissy: im here like 20 minutes once a week now...at most.... its sad...but this channel is full of a lot of bullshit...it might as well be #dumbassTeens4152 I don't mean to be rude, but are some of us somewhat oh.... PISSY this evening? psi: yeah it seems that way psi, Yes... No, you're just a dumb Asian oz: dude, go munch on a wonton or something. i mean, irc is for fun... fuck it... if you don't like it, don't log on irc is for fun? what? dude, IRC is for reaffirming your manhood by having a @ by your name in the channel list. Duh. i'm a man? damn cd: you're "the man." psi: aaahhhhh..... now i understand psibelius: Right on! I want a BIG @ tho dont oppose the man cd: in 20 years you,ll be ;--) when I grow up, I want an @ in front of my name... then again, we need to watch out for the asian invasion. psib, mosaic and me will take over the usa! (kennyc will be busy mudding) what about the skinny white boy invasion? psi, too late, they own Orange County, California, USA ozone was speaking anothing language.. i think it was... ASIAN! zinc: asian isn't a language, you twit. zink: "asian" is a new language now? zink: then i speak "white" that means! asian english = wontonics I am multilingual, I can speak Australian (G'day!), ebonics (Yo Bitch!), Canadian (Ya Hey) and Asian (HARRO) I also hear you speak credit card werd i just got my round 1 MC5 comments blackwolf: what were they? :) iv: "you suck" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ]--[Closing]-----------------------------------------------------------------[ TraxWeekly is available via FTP from: ftp.hornet.org /pub/demos/incoming/info/ (new issues) ftp.hornet.org /pub/demos/info/traxweek/1995/ (back issues) /pub/demos/info/traxweek/1996/ /pub/demos/info/traxweek/1997/ TraxWeekly is available via WWW from: www.hornet.org, under section "Information" and subsection "TraxWeekly." To subscribe, send mail to: listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za and put in the message body: subscribe trax-weekly [your *name*, NOT email] To unsubscribe, mail same and: unsubscribe trax-weekly (in the message body) Contributions for TraxWeekly must be formatted for *78* columns, and must have a space preceding each line. Please try to avoid the use of high ascii characters, profanity, and above all, use your common sense. Contributions should be mailed as plain ascii text or filemailed to: gwie@csusm.edu before 11:00pm PST every Wednesday. TraxWeekly is usually released over the listserver and ftp.cdrom.com every Thursday or Friday. TraxWeekly does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, or political and religious views. The staff can be reached at the following: Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie)..............gwie@csusm.edu Writers: Atlantic (Barry Freeman)..........as566@torfree.net Behemoth (David Menkes)...........behemoth@mscomm.com Bibby (Andrew Bibby)..............bibby@juno.com Mage (Glen Dwayne Warner).........gdwarner@ricochet.net Zinc (Justin Ray).................rays@direct.ca ascii graphic contributors: Cruel Creator, Stezotehic, Squidgalator2, Thomas Knuppe, White Wizard TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation. Copyright (c)1995,1996,1997 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved. ]--[END]---------------------------------------------------------------------[ :: ::: : . ..... ..............................:::.................:.... ::: : :::: : .::::. .:::::.:::. ..:::: :::: : :: :: ::: .:: :: :: WW:::: : ::. :: ::: .:: :: .:: :::: : :::.::. ::: .:: .:: .:::::... :: :::.. ... ..: ... ..:::::::::::::::: .:: .::::::: :::::::: ::::::.. ::: ::: ::: : until next week! =) .. ... .. ....... ............... .................:..... .. . :