When I first became an ST user, I was completely unfamiliar with the concept of a demo. Perhaps I might have assumed it meant a game demo, who knows? What I do know is that Grusel and The Union Demo were the first that truly captured my interest in this new world of impressive effects, music, and scrollers.
Grusel was something I stumbled upon while browsing the Page 6 library, along with a bunch of other intriguing things that piqued my curiosity as a new ST guy. Of course, it was The Union Demo that truly ignited this new passion. Weirdly, I discovered it by pure chance through an advert in a magazine. It's an understatement to say I was astounded by the capabilities my Atari ST suddenly possessed overnight.
This marked the beginning of something monumental. I wondered how my 520ST was doing all this, as I walked Charley across the smooth-scrolling landscape to some incredible demos. In fact, to this day, I still regard The Wobbly Screen by the mighty Replicants as one of the best. I couldn’t help but wonder what else was out there, so I began looking! This led to buying disks like Money For Nothing and others. Including the older TEX demos, I had previously not known about. These disks gave birth to my demoscene addiction!
One of the most impressive demos I encountered during this time was the 007 Demo by the ST Squad. It blew me away due to its length and the clarity of the sound. It was incredible what a 512Kb computer with a floppy drive could produce. Since I didn’t have any speakers, I remember it being played through the TV. In fact, I even remember my Dad coming upstairs to ask if I was watching a James Bond movie, haha.
Around this time, many more sample disks were released. It seemed like a popular niche, with artists cramming as much music onto a floppy disk as possible. This could be recorded samples or simply mixing parts to create something longer. Whatever the method, I was hooked and spent hours searching for more.
In short, I’ve been reliving my early days by going through sample disks from around this time. Hearing my ST sing everything from Ghostbusters to Stingray was/is a surreal moment. And it's thanks to The Union boys. Curiously, I wonder how long I might have been unaware of "demos" if it weren’t for them?
Anyway, this is just a small part of my history from my early days when I discovered "demos". What about you guys? Here are links to other 'sample' demos that I remember during those years...
Batdance by Matt Kennedy (Ripped Off #65) - https://demozoo.org/Bat...
Robomix by Electronic Images & Radical Systems (POV #9) - https://demozoo.org/
Ghostbusters by ST Squad (POV #14) - https://demozoo.org/ghosts...
Phantom Of The Opera by Tony Longworth (Ripped Off #2) - https://demozoo.org/daley...
Miami Vice Theme by MJS - https://www.atarimania.com/miami-vice
Stingray by The Poltergeists (The Source #49) - https://demozoo.org/sting...
The Cola Wars by Tom O'Shaughnessy (Mind-blowing) - https://www.atarimania.com/cola-wars
I couldn't leave without a quick show of the Union Demo. What a moment in time!!
At the time it didn't occur to me to buy PD at all which in hindsight was a real shame. I missed out on a lot. I was a keen GFA coder at the time and it might have given me some inspiration. The only demo I ever bought was the Iron Maiden Transylvania demo, direct from The Lost Boys at some computer show in London. I got a lot play out of it though.
ReplyDeleteYeah!! that was a great demo. I think you're right, sadly you lost out with a whole part of the ST world. There was so much and it was a big part of the scene imho. Not just demos, but anything from games to utils and programs... Actually gutted for ya! :(
DeleteI blame it on ST Format :-) I don't remember it doing much to advertise PD. If only I'd read something like Page 6 - which ironically was edited by someone living in my home town.
DeleteThat's true. Imho the magazines largely ignored the PD world until much later, probably as the commercial companies started to leave... which is a shame as there's so many shareware/pd games. Even here, like Grav or Hoog for example
DeleteLove it, great stuff man
ReplyDeleteThanks mate
DeleteOh, good old days! The first time I saw a demo screen was actually when I didn't even know what I was watching. An early ST Format coverdisk had a screen sporting a beautiful Ferrari F40 with some sprites whirling all over the screen, and a cool distorter effect. I was madly thumbing a fire button and spacebar to load a demo of a racing game - or so I thought :D Later a friend of mine showed me the Union, Cuddly and Sowatt demos. From that day on I've always been looking for ST demos I haven't yet seen. My highest respect goes to demo programmers and artists who always managed the impossible on our humble non-custom chip home computer... Then the one with a few custom chips until blowing my mind completely with... you guessed it... the almighty Falcon030 ;)
ReplyDeleteArgghhhh you and that Falcon! BLOCKED!!!!!!! 🤣
DeleteI remember some of these demos and I love the feeling when I look on it now. As and adult I discover insane quality on (don't block me as well)... Falcon :) I bought good quality of speakers to experience magical sound.
ReplyDeleteOf course every platform has its charm- I love demos on ST, STE and XE too.
BTW I'm looking for demo from my childhood: it was quite short, amiga on the screen and digitalized laugh. I would like to use it in the near future. Any hints?
Do you mean Amiga Joke Demo by AN Cool? https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/2025/06/happy-commodore-day.html
DeleteYes, that's the one! Thank you!
DeleteExcellent :)
DeleteCool collection. I found Robomix on an auction disk last year. I really enjoyed it. Sadly I didn't have many demo disks back in the day, or know much about the scene. I've watched quite a few on your channel. Im making up for lost time. I remember Atari Staff room having one called Things Not To Do which I really enjoyed. A lot of talent on the the demo scene including you : )
ReplyDeleteHa far too kind mate, but thanks ;) Oh and I know that demo you like, it's brilliant: https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/2017/07/things-not-to-do.html
DeleteGonna check out your channel later, I never seem to have any YT Time these days :/