Adventurer #15 31 июля 2004

Демо

Reviews - demo 2003 review: Detroyt, Why?, Extazy, Microcosm, Wirne, Alienate, Sailor, The Source, Evenless, Fuck You Scene, Caprize, Resurrection, demo22, Weed, China Restaurant .

Demos as is. Nothing more.
Flying / DR 'Miguel / CPU

Detroyt by TBK +4 D
(ASCII'2003, 1st place)

miguel> As a matter of fact, I was
waiting for another demo from
4D + TBK at that time, the one they
hadn't finished for CAFe'2002. But
there appeared some rumours, that
they prepared something different
for ASCII. Maybe guys decided to
avoid chunks this time and we'll
see something new and interesting,
I thought. So, I downloaded the
party stuff and started watching.

From the beginning of the demo I
was shocked with those circles
from some old (approx. 1997 year)
Haujobb demo or anything else, whatever, taken from pc. I still 
have enough of attention to notice in

those 'circles' a scrolly with credits, and among the authors' 
nicks G.D. Immediately I thought of something converted from pc 
(since that pc effect with circles was

used).

And again I was rejoiced with logos made by pROF, but it was a
well known for a long time feeling, so they seemed like routine.
Of course, every pROF's logo is made professionally, but it 
becomes boring to see.


I'm not a coder so I'm not deeply
concerned with coder's techniques
used here, but I should notice,
that animation conversion is made
good enough. I remember the animation that we tried to make in 
a similar way for Adventurer # 12 intro. One of the main 
reasons why we made everything jump and shiver was that we 
couldn't convert it from pC with high quality. But here we

can see, that creators managed to
make it right, except, maybe, that
pinions.

Let's proceed with music. By those
circles in the beginning I was
prompted to wait for something made in 1997-98's style, 
sounding like tracks from the best demos of that

time. And I think I was right,
anyway, noone makes music like
that nowadays.

Technically, I always tried to
avoid of using a whole channel for
drums. Of course, it is a good possibility to make drums sound 
like drums and as complicated as you

want. But I think the main problem
is that there are only few musicians possible to do that. 
Besides, if you're making your tune for

ACB, displacement of noise towards
the one channel (with my ABC) makes the track sound slightly 
confined. However, in some cases there is no possibility to do 
what you want in any other way. So, I

think, there's is a vital necessity to use ABC / BAC / ACB 
modes in demos now. 

Another thing that bother me is envelope. I like when it sounds 
good and rich. So, usually, I make the

whole volume of music a little lower to allow these vibrations 
to be heard. Here, in this track,

it's almost lost.

Besides, there's a good trick I often use. The usage of fifth 
notes instead of tonics allows to arrange the envelope's part 
in very different ways, increase the whole drive. I hope Key 
Jee knows about that. Anyway, the soundtrack for

this demo, as i think, was made
long ago, before Key Jee joined
the army, and if he would make it
now, using all advises listed
above, it would sound different.

But there is a moment that I don't
like - the reaction of scene. I often see quatations from this 
demo and it makes me think, that there

are some people, for whom detroYt
has become an overwhelming breakthru in demomaking, especially 
after the dictatorship of chunks. And this fact gives some 
additional pop traits to this demo, what is categorically not 
welcomed by me.


flying> Splendid work of, maybe,
the most prominent for now 'combined' team TBK +4 D, has 
impressed all visitors of ASCII'2003, and, I

think, the whole crowd of speccy
freaks.

The demo absorbs from the first
moments of perception and 'releases' only with the final fading
of sound and stop of motion at the
screen. By the strenght of impact
it could be set in one row with
such a masterpieces as' Shit 4
Brainz 'by Progress and' The Loop '
by 3SC. Beautiful code, stunning
work of designer (graphics, design
of 3D scenes and especially work
with fonts) and excellent soundtrack, that merges with the 
visuals by the means of perfect synchronization - all those 
parts, compiled together, are making up

this outstanding product.

Examining 'detroYt' from the
technical point of view, it could
be understood, that it bases on
two players of vector animations,
however, in my opinion, for the
first time it was used to represent 3D scenes of such kind. In 
addendum to this, according to the statement of authors, the 
scene with 3D pinions is an example of

high quality data packing (i hope,
they'll decide to release the sources of this effect alongside 
with the packer, as I did it in my time

with the packer of ZXA animations,
written for Jam). Also one or two
articles in some magazine, about
the process, technique and ruses
of creation, preparations and converting of vector animations, 
used while making detroYt would come in

handy.

Considering this work not by itself, but in surrounding of
another demos, appeared on speccy
by the last few years, i would
say, that creators of 'detroYt'
(Besides the number of works from
other platforms, not to mention
classic Amiga intro by Delirium,
works by The Black Lotus and Kasparov on PC, with it industrial 
atmosphere) were influenced such things as 'The Loop' by 3SC 
(the first scene with punched details

bears a strong resemblance to the
similar process in 'The Loop')
and, maybe, ours 'Jam' (it could
be just my biased opinion as one
of the authors of this work, but
the scene with pinions, by its style and and implementation 
raises associations with 'Jam' animations). Maybe there is a 
light influence of works by Skrju (but

it could be a mutual influences
i.e. both teams are getting something from each other). And this
is truly great if I'm right, because they are giving a new look 
to those ideas, finding out somewhat,

not explored by the others.

Sizing up, it could be only said,
that this demo is a 'must see' and
examine for everyone who have an
interest to the speccy demoscene,
as an example of magnificent work,
opening new horizon in demomaking
on speccy.

Why? by Skrju
(ASCII'2003, 2nd place)

miguel> Next demo from skrju. And
this work again reminds me of
another pC demos, maybe by Kewlers, or maybe Fukwit Daddy / 
Haujobb. I don't know why kq and sq made what they did, but 
that accusations in the lack of ideas that appeared after the 
party I can only regard as stupid and ridiculous. I still 
believe that there are not so much people who understand this 
demo in any way, maybe different way that was expected. 

As I understand, the demo is based
on lyrics, written by
i_don't_know_who, maybe kq, because he made the gfx presented
here. And I think he grafically
described what he wrote by words.

nq aka Nik-O seems to be a real maniak. I suppose, the purpose 
of every creative person is to realize yourself in any 
occupation that you like. But it's hard to imagine

what you want to do, the result of
your work, especially, it's almost
impossible to conceive this track
made by Oleg. I think this style
of music, that Nik-O developed during some last months (or 
years) is not so popular as those melodical tracks, remixes and 
covers that Nik-O made before. The first

proof that I can offer - the results of latest music compos, 
where Nik-O didn't get what he deserves. 

I know most of tricks that Nik-O
can use, some of them we discussed
in emails, but sometimes I have a
feeling that he uses too much of
them in one track. Moreover, when
my approach to composing has
changed and now I try to make music as simple as possible.

However, I like the fact that
Nik-O stopped flooding the scene
with his music, that makes every
single track more valuable, I
think. And it's a pity that he couldn't visit CAFe this time.

flying> If this work by Skrju is
examined not by itself, but in the
one row with the other works of
this team, then the tendency of development is clearly seen. 
Because 'Why?' is something middle between

released before 'Summermilk' and
the last one 'FUCK you SCENE'. Already deprived of colours, but 
not of text, the music started its mutation, becoming a 'FUCK 
you SCENE 'soundtrack later, now this

is not a set of sinking in noise
sounds, but something merely
alive. 'Transferred' from one work
to another, fx becomes resemblant
to the mutant, we'll see in 'FyS',
but still, this is something relatively normal. And the size of
'Why?' is similar with 'Summermilk', not 'FyS'. Rather hard to
perceive, but at least not so depressive as 'FyS' ...

For some reason, there is no desire to examine 'Why?' by itself,
let it be seen the brick, constructed by Skrju, in some global 
work of art. But if this tendency will

continue - I'm already scared by
the next brick ...

Hmmm ... Another Brick In The Wall?
It's interesting, why I have such
associations in the present moment? Maybe because of 'Pink
Floyd 'is playing in my headphones?

Extazy by Milytia
(ASCII'2003, 3rd place)

miguel> The final release of this
demo became available just after
CAFe, though it took the 3rd place
at ASCII. I've seen an opinion in
Internet that it's even better
than those presented at CAFe this
year. Ridiculous.

As for me, at the first sight it
may seem too childish. Of course,
Milytia is a young team, the representatives of so called 'new 
wave' spekka demo scene. And there are a

lot of traits of this style here
in this demo - minimalism in gfx,
code and music. The main thing
they are laying on is idea. But, I
think, it's too optimistic.

A few words about gfx presented in
Extazy - like in other earlier
works it's still glumsy, lines and
contours are far from ideal and
those faces are killing me ... There are some good logos, but 
it's not enough.


Simple melody, playing in this
demo, makes me think, that life is
not so bad as it may seem, that we
must have a lot of joy and pleasure from flowers, lover's face, 
friends and so on. Really, music is made without any pretence, 
its purpose is to bring some melancholic and calming 
vibrations, do not bother the listener.


But the main drawback is the ending, which is too abrupt, you
don't know what to do, I had a feeling that I have to run for 
firemen:) I hope that Milytia will make the proper conclusion 
out of this.


flying> Though this work by Milytia appeared only a few months 
before 'Caprize' (reviewed above) - comparing those two demos, 
one can feel a serious progress of a

team through this period of time.
'Caprize' has a neatly expressed
(Although, not original in the
most of it) style, while 'Extazy'
is quite blurred, its parts practically are not connected 
together. Also, technically, this is not a

revelation - low amount of simple
effects (all could be seen in the
middle of 90s) are working not so
fast. There are undisguised drawbacks sometimes, like 'hanging' 
effects (when the screen remains uncleared after end of fx), or

thrash, creeping at the screen in
'Greetz' part. Melody is attractive, and felt like it was 
composed especially for the demo, but there are problems with 
synchronization. In general demo looks weaker, than 'Caprize' 
but it is very light and leaves a pleasant impression after it. 
And what rejoices more, that even the next their work is a 
great step forward, that means, we can wait continuation of 
this course and more quality works from Milytia.


Microcosm by CPU
(Out of the party)

miguel> This is the first work of
duet inward, recently appeared on
scene under the label of CPU. I
think some people understand why
it happened, especially those
who've been at CAFe this year.
Elph's mental condition influenced
by music, literature and other different things, now produces 
interesting kinds of psychodelic emotions thru Spekka. 

The second person is a well-known
member of CPU - Moran. With his
epilepsy, affecting all what he
creates, and whole life attitude,
he had already frightened us bringing out his plans and ideas. 
But, as I think, he had no proper support to realize what he 
wanted and thats why he often tried to force

himself to make something with
CPU, though he didn't need it.
Here, in microcosm he had a chance
to release. But I still don't believe that what he is showing 
to us as his inner state is true. For me

he is still a person without
strong purposes and directives and
that doesn't let him to realize
himself completely in whatever he
wants to do. Apparently, h doesn't
know what he wants. And I think,
and that's a pity, that again he
found somebody able to direct him,
who sees the object of creation very defined, as you understand,
it's elph.

Music itself is an attempt to make
dark ambient using Spekka. Of course, not so many people can 
appreciate it at its true value and there are some reasons, 
beginning with unability to understand this

sort of music, following with quality of your home stereo ... 
I'll just mention that elph is one who

possesses all necessary requirements for this, otherwise he 
wouldn't make such products. 

However, I think that most of ppl
doesn't understand, why there are
Two versions of microcosm. It is due
to differences of AY frequency on
different Spekkas, and it affects
the envelope, which is the main
instrument used in the soundtrack.
Its period varies so the structure
of track, its rythm changes and sound turns into jumble. So 
inward made the second version with envelope fix so you could 
tune the sound in the right way. 

Of course, there are some ppl, who
can't understand the meaning of
what happens on the screen and sounds in the ears, i'll just say
that after five minutes of action you
can just turn the volume and low
frqs up, switch the lights off,
lay down and close your eyes ...

flying> Hmm ... After Honest 15 minutes in contemplation of this
demo, i came to conclusion, that
my brains need something psychotropic, to catch the escaping 
perception of this work:) I'll better return to 'Evenless' - it 
is easier to perceive and spiritually

closer to me.

Wirne by ZeroTeam
(Out of the party)

miguel> You know, making such review is not an easy work. I've 
watched every work not at once, trying every time to percieve 
deeper in every detail, trying to decipher the meaning of 
things, the reasons and purposes, I've been

thinking much about what would
I've done if I tried to make a demo with those elements that I 
saw and how it would look like, how it

must be. And now you try to watch
microcosm, lying about 25-30 minutes on a bed, listening drones,
perceiving the innerself and then,
after it stops, go to wirne. I can
only compare it with a brick falling on the head.

Many different logos, effects of
the early 90ies, progress is almost absent. Everywhere.

Sometimes I have a feeling that europeans stuck in this 
'oldschool' stereotype, or you can call it as

you like, whatever, maybe it is
just stubborn persistence, I don't
know, but for as me, I think they
are unable to compete with russians in using Spekka for high 
level programming, design, simply demos

as a whole, and that's why they
place this unability under the
term of 'for fun', showing their
'Sense of humour' and it becomes,
honestly, quite boring.

flying> As it is said at the beginning of the demo - the 
concept was founded five years ago and only now

it have seen the light. Better
later, then never (maybe authors
of 'Genetic Error' will follow the
example of ZeroTeam and we will
see their work?

The demo itslef reminds me the
works of early 90s, as for composition, type and the level of 
effects, so for the whole spirit. I remember, that I myself did 
a lot of such an effects in 1995-1996.

Everything is pretty nice, simple
and light, very good for nostalgic
reasons, but not enough for a modern demo.

Alienate by HPRG
(Assembly'2003, 4th place)

miguel> Boring again ...

flying> Our European friends from
HPRG in the second time took part
in the world's biggest demoparty -
Assembly with their new Spectrum
work. It can't be ignored, cos it
lets the representatives of other
platforms to remember (or maybe
to get acquainted in the first
time) Spectrum and about it's demoscene. So, let's take a closer
look on the product.

At first, you don't need to read
credits to recognize Yerzmyey's
graphics style and this defines
the style of the demo, cos you
can't expect a technical revelation, but a vivid demo, filled
with light and humour, maybe a
little specific humour. At first I
should say, that authors didn't move far from their original 
style, everything, mentioned above, fits

good to this work. The level of effects is about 1995-1996, if 
we compare it with russian demos,

even mentioning, that I watched
the final version, there are some
mismatches (for example, after the
attribute tunnel, the screen depacking is done without clearing 
of the attributes). However the demo

leaves good impression with its
light mood and atmosphere. Besides, the opportunity to choose
AY or General Sound would please
the owners of this device (or emulator users).

Speaking about the presentation of
this work at Assembly-this great
in itself, especially taking into
account participation in oldschool
democompo. But it could be desired, to see the demo, 
representing modern standarts in speccy demomaking, competing 
here. 

Sailor by HPRG
(Out of the party)

miguel> ehhhhhhhh ....

flying> Does everyone remember
low quality poland demos in late
80s? Seems like one of it remained
in a dust for the last 15 years
and seen the light only now.

The performance is absolutely low.
The point is understood, but this
is not the cause to watch it:)

Weed by TBK +4 D
(CAFe'2003, 1st place)

miguel> I don't know why TBK decided to make such and so called
demo. Just to win, or it was really deep in their minds, they 
really ever had any experience in this sphere? But this light 
propaganda of hash and narcotics in general

as a key to the possibility to understand more than usual 
consumer has found its audience at this popsy CAFe party. And 
that was the right action from TBK - they won

the compo. Other examples of such
approach, I think, can be found easily, but they hadn't such 
success screen with Bob Marley and cannabis, last years' Black 
and White demo.


So, I guess, people that like mainly visual side of a demo are 
everywhere, they don't bother themselves with thinking about 
the deeper meanings. And they did their task, as a bull reacts 
on a red cloth.


What about music? I don't even
know how to make a soundtrack for
a demo with such idea, so I won't
judge Key Jee for his competence
or uncompetence, you can do it by
your own if you like. Anyway, music is simple and ordinary, 
though professionally made. But there's

one moment that I like most-lyrical part before colours start (3
channel melody with reverberation
and a simple envelope part) and
patterns after it. So, I think,
that's it.

flying> The second work by TBK +4 D
in 2003 year, presented at the
party, second masterpiece and for
the second time - deserved first
place. And if detroYt was a revelation in the sphere of new 
ideas of effects realization and new directions in 
explorations, 'WeeD' not just continued this movement, but

added new elements to that, making
this work really remarkable.

At start it should be said, that
here we can see at least two completely new techniques, or more 
precisely saying - the development of new techniques, first 
presented in 'DetroYt', but done here at a qualitatively new 
level. At first, realization of sufficiently complex 3D scenes 
with the help of vector animations. And if in detroYt we

saw fullscreen 3D with industrial
bias, then here, animation is combined with 2D objects, thus, 
the whole screen is moving and representing a single whole 
itself. That let the authors to accent the

central object, adding the dynamics to a whole scene, using 
vectors. In the second place, there is of course stunning 
fullscreen, coloured animation at the end.

Black and white version we could
observe in 'detroYt', but colours
add a lot to the spectacular effect! Except those two main 
innovations, there are some minor set of new ideas. Pay an 
attention, for example, how the 3D figures are appearing and 
vanishing at the middle of the demo.


But 'WeeD' wouldn't be such a
great occurence, if presented itself only a demonstration of a 
new technologies. Fortunately, authors

did a great effort and made each
component at a very high level. Except marvellous code, there is
high quality graphics and excellent music, reflecting the 
atmosphere very well. All this properly fitted together and 
looks as a single whole. Different by its nature parts are 
gathering and making up a picture, and this picture is telling 
a story. Yes, exactly, this demo has its plot,

not primitive or shallow at all,
but forcing to think.

Besides, i dont know if it was an
author's idea, or it just appeared
to be so, but 'WeeD' rouses a
clear associations with film 'Pink
Floyd - The Wall ', directly to the
part, where 'Don't Leave Me Now'
is playing '. I think, those, who
saw the film will understand me:)

And there is one more thing, i have a strong associations with, 
while watching 'WeeD' - ours 'Forever'. Though, the authors are

saying, that this is only a coincidence (and I'm inclining to 
believe them) - however, there are some moments, that 'came' 
from 'Forever' as it seems to me. This

is not derogates 'WeeD', but maybe
even vice versa.

One more time congaratulations to
TBK +4 D with the victory in main
party of the year!

demo22 by Eye-Q
(CAFe'2003, 5th place)

miguel> Do not vote, please ...
It's right. Everything moves too
slowly on the screen. However, at
the very start of the soundtrack
it seems that it's gonna be a hard
drive trackmo. But only disappointment apears. Why they released
this demo? It's not even about the
code, gfx, nor music. It's definitely not finished.

I think that this demo is an effort made by Organism to support
the party and to make the speccy
scene remember about his crew -
Eye-Q, at least for another year
while their competetors MHCG changed to de Marche and started to
conquer the 'more progressive' pC
scene.

flying> By the way, practically
everything, that could be said
about this work of Eye-Q, they
said at the beginning of the demo:
'There is no cool code ... just lame effects from Organism. 
There is no gfx from Rion ... just some converted shit. There 
is no good fix ... just nice track from

Icengreen. There is no demo ... and
we sucks this year ... 'This
description fully reflects the
demo22 itself. Really - converted
(Not by the best way) graphics,
3-4 rather primitive effects (the
authors didn't care much about
speed optimization), total lack of
music synchronization, and the soundtrack, energetic enough, 
poorly fitting the slowness of visuals.

What is this - team crisis or elementary lack of time and 
desire to do something? Hope this is temporary occurrence, the 
previous work - demo21 was a step forward, maybe,

the movement should be continued?

Resurrection by OHG
(CAFe'2003, 2nd place)

miguel> I can't even find the proper word to describe this demo.
OHG strikes back? What for? They
tried to demonstrate treir ability
to 'make demos' on spekka? I
guess, they are pleased with results of this performance. And
they call it 'oldschool'. I see
nothing that can remind about
oldschool. Such statements can only make clowns out of Jocker 
and his mates, already showed their

'Sport spirit'. Maybe organizers
are quilty in 'commercial' approach of making demos. As it was 
posted on Scenergy - I'd like bananas instead of prizes!


I hope there will be no more such
kind of shit.

flying> Rather unexpectable event
after a few years of silence Omega
Hackers Group returned to Speccy
with the new work and even got the
second place in demo compo of the
main party of the year, leaving behind the works of the very 
active at the moment teams. This makes me

happy and shows - Speccy Forever!

Demo starts with the words
'Oldschool never die' - this is
true, good classic effects when done at high-grade are always 
looking good. And this work gave us opportunity to recall 
several classic works of past years (of course, here effects 
look a little different, because dumb copying

would look worse, than an own view
at the same fx). Honestly saying,
couple of chunk effects of later
period are coming off the track,
but generally, it didn't spoil the
whole picture. From the other
side, using converted low quality
graphics along with such a slogan
was a mistake.

In summary, this is not bad work,
but the most important is the fact
of its appearance itself and
those, who did it, not the things
happening on the screen.

Caprize by Milytia
(CAFe'2003, 3rd place)

miguel> I think, guys just didn't
know that the track they chose to
be a soundtrack had taken the second place at millennium'1902. 
And I think Milytia didn't cared much

while making this demo. They certainly had no time to make the 
soundtrack by themselves, the music from their last work was 
something to hear though. And those funny

phrases like 'no kopia',
'Alternfiva? Yes! ' and 'cyber
punks U 'in greets. I couldn't decipher what's written in 
graffiti style, so next time i'll certainly

ask them about it ...

flying> Examination of this demo
rouse controversary feelings in
me ... By the one side - all time,
you watch the demo, the deja vu
syndrom, the feeling, that you have seen this all ... But by the
other side, this mix borns something new ...

The very beginning - vertical
lines, moving downwards - stable
association with Detroyt by
TBK +4 D, released not so long before. Really, if those lines 
would form a wireframe 3D scene, it could be a marvellous 
impression! But it would be TOO similar with

Detroyt:)

First fx, and again that feeling
'Summermilk ???'. Authors reject
those doubts:) But the feeling remains the same ... The 
scrolling texture, combined with sideway

graphics, crossing it, raises memories of Melange and some other
works.

But, in spite of all this, and obvious dead level of code (2-3 
very simple effects - there is not much

to code) the demo looks great, it
done in one style, there is drive,
becouse of very energetic soundtrack and good synchro. It 
perceived very smooth and not loads the watcher (but 
'concerned' demos could be very good, if done well

and speccy has various examples,
everyone knows of), that fits the
party very good.

Guys from Milytia could be congratulated - this is very 
successful work, the only thing that could be

desired - YOU should be recognized
in your works, not anyone else
(Look above about Alienate):)

Fuck You Scene by Skrju
(CAFe'2003, 4th place)

miguel> I think it's not so good
to make a demo about scene, at
least, call it like this, 'cos it
doesn't deserve it. In my opinion,
it is the press' task to discuss
about scene, it's absence, presence, whatever.

At the other side, I can feel the
denying of all stereotypes and
cliches that established during
few last years and applied to everything, and demos in 
particular. And that's why, and like adv # 14

fuckyouscene has appeared. It's
now time for another scene, but
not for everyone.

For me, the kq's leadership in
skrju's creative process is getting obvious. I don't know why,
anyway, I'm sure that sq has much
to say, but somehow kq presses on
and makes dicisions. Also, I suspect, that nq didn't make a 
soundtrack especially for this demo, I suppose, he has a basic 
line - to make music for skrju and whatever he composes with 
such approach, any weird thing, fits

the 'spirit of skrju'. I guess
that everything that deals with
music, it's realization and it's
content, they place upon nq's shoulders. Anyway, the result is 
quite good. 

flying> It is extremely hard to
express an opinion about this work
of Skrju. Those guys are always on
the edge in their point of view at
the world and so in the ways of
selfexpression. Sometimes falling
into extreme, they nevertheless
open new views at the way the demo
could be. This time those 16kb
adherents demonstrated the work,
consisted of sequence of black and
white screens, stored unpacked on
the disk ... Add to this only one
'Effect', already seen in previous
their demos and music, composed
from the minimal set of samples.
Now, deliberately corrupt the fx
and music, till they seem a result
of a broken computer or a bad disk
thats the way of partly picturing
what 'fuck YOU scene' is. But this
is only the outer side.

Look, deeper inside of what you
see and hear. Sinister, opressing
industrial visions ... Faces of people with only fear, pain and 
suffering inside their eyes ... Melody, dying in the flood of 
noise ... Code, mutated beyond recognition, but still trying to 
survive ... Graves ... That should be seen ... That should be 
pondered ... That is far too serious ...


Thanks Skrju.

Update: I think, this demo would
ideally fit to never conducted compo of 'social' demos at 
CAFe'2002 (Leaving no chances to the 'Traffic Of Death' by PoS 
WT). However, scarcely Skrju could take part

there.

Evenless by CPU
(CAFe'2003, 6th place)

miguel> In the beginning, I'd like
to look at this demo from the
other side. The only two effects
which are nothing in particular,
weird pictures oddly entitled, colours are chosen awry, music is
dull ... Besides, there's no such
word in english. What does it
mean? Where's the plot and what is
was made for?

Am I right? No? And now some
facts. I wont tell any secret,
there's no reason for it, moreover, we apprehend it as a whole,
not concerning about it's components.

It's a mantra. I tried to use all
my imagination while composing the
soundtrack. To satisfy your curiousity, I'd say I played it on 
my guitar in D-minor:) The other particular feature - is the 
track's structure. We put six pictures in

the demo cos it is based on 6 patterns, repeating from start to 
the end. Six, not 4 or 8 as usual. The

measure plays the main role here.

Also, I had to work on sound, I
should especially notice drums,
which I wanted to be here, but sound not so heavy as it could 
be. 

That all, I think.

Finally, I have to notice, that
this track I made in two days, i.e.
much quicker than usually. This
circumstance remains a miracle for
me, logically explainable though.

flying> Everyone, who are slightly
familiar with the history of the
demoscene, and remembers the
8-10 years old works, undoubtedly
understand, what demo became a
prototype of this cyberpunks'
work. This is 'Timeless' by Tran,
of course, released in 1994 on PC.
Even the name of the speccy 'version' - 'Evenless' have 
something in common with the name of the original, that gives 
one more stimulus to conduct such an associations. 

It should be said, that a spectrum
variant is simply splendid!
Authors succeeded to reproduce
this famous multilayerness and mutability, the sense of 
psychedelia, for what original 'Timeless' is beloved even now. 
But unlike Tran, who released 'Timeless' for no particular 
reason, CPU decided to represent their work at CAFe, where such 
a thing, of course, was misunderstood. This couldn't be watched 
at a party, it should be done at home, in silence, calmly 
submerging deeper and deeper, penetrating and dissolvig in its 
infinity. Party has another atmosphere, that is the reason of 
such a low place, this excellent work got at CAFe. 

Update: hmm ... elfh / cpu said, they
never saw 'Timeless' and in accordance to that didn't tried to 
do its speccy version ... Strange

things happen - those two absolutely independent works are very 
similar visually, and carrying the same spirit:) I didn't 
correct the text, that would be even more interesting:)


The Source by CPU
(CAFe'2003, 7th place)

miguel> Inward again try to involve us in the depth of their 
minds. Now they use the most comprehensible way - thru words, 
but I guess, most of people didn't read

the text due to the lack of education. Also they could be 
surprized that thesource took part in the demo compo at all, 
maybe there appeared some followers of demo preselect. Fuck'em! 

This time again inward made music
by themselves. I don't think it's
crap, I'm sure they get what they
want, but there are some moments
that I don't like - some samples
and one mistake. Maybe it's not so
important for them, especially
Moran, who's tracks are full of
such mistakes and faults, but for
elph ... When the track is playing,
although there are no drums, but
the whole rythm presents and you
can feel it, and there is a place
when the measure breaks. I think
it happens because they didn't make an effort to hear it and to 
select an appropriate size of the pattern.


elfh> look for the final version ...

As elph says they have some other
tracks already written, so I hope
they'll be more careful.

flying> Another one Inward from cyberpunks. The realisation and 
spirit is very close to Microcosm, but personally, I liked it 
more even notwithstanding the lack of

support of substances to penetrate
nirvana, i was imbued:)

It is scarcely should be examined
(And so Microcosm) from the technical point of view - it is not 
intended to this. But this is the great source to get totally 
stoned :)


China Restaurant by Triumph
(Out of the party)

flying> It's hard to describe this
work by Triumph ... Because, inspite of presence of every 
needed component the emphasis is not done on it, but on the 
text, that authors wanted to deliver to the public.

Poem, written by the person, imprisoned by the false accusation 
(as it said at the end of the demo).

The poem worth reading, that mean,
the demo should be watched from
the beginning to an end. But there
is no sense to appreciate this
work from the point of view of demomaking, there is another 
core ... Therefore look (read) everything

by yourself and then make your opinion about it.