Happy Commodore Day!!

Wait, come back...

I bet you didn't expect to see that logo here? lol. Well, I have decided to create a light-hearted Amiga presentation to celebrate a great 16-bit computer. No, I'm not trying to be sarcastic! So, why the sudden burst of Amiga appreciation? Well, ever since I posted about STDOOM and DOOM8088ST, I have received a flood of childish and downright nasty comments on both this site and my YouTube channel. Rather than rise to their bait and retaliate, I figured I would record a silly yet respectful video to say thanks for the fantastic banter over the years, not to mention the zillions of Tracker tunes (as a chiptune guy, I hated typing that).

I've hunted down some cool Amiga-themed demos, images, and music. Nothing bitter, just a playful tribute with a few cheeky extras thrown in for a laugh. Surprisingly, there’s actually a fair bit of Amiga-themed content for the ST/STe, which is kinda cool. So I picked out a few that I liked, but Demozoo has loads more.

The productions I’ve picked are shown briefly in my video, so I’ve included all the links below to enjoy each one properly. I loved the AN Cool demo - just wish it was longer, especially as a ZZ Top fan! Commando is actually a VT-52 text file, and I recorded it in full, as it scrolls a bit too fast, so it’s probably easier to watch on YouTube. If, like me, an animated text file fascinates you, check out Josh Renaud's excellent website.

Okay, as for the minority of keyboard warriors, leaving nasty comments - seriously, why are you here? I mean, we don’t spend our time lurking on Amiga websites just to troll. We're too busy enjoying our ST to be looking over our shoulders. To the rest, the normies, let the banter continue for many more decades!!

Regardless of your allegiance, I hope that you enjoy watching my video recording. STay Atari :x

• All credit to these cool dudes for the productions used in my recording...
• The Amiga Demo by The Exceptions https://demozoo.org/productions/76582/
• Amiga Joke Demo by AN Cool https://www.atarimania.com/amiga-joke-demo.html
• The Amiga Sound Demo by The Slayer https://demozoo.org/productions/94010/
• Amiga Music Disk 3 by The Disaster Crew https://demozoo.org/productions/76279/
• Amiga 1200 Demo by Tranceaction https://www.atarimania.com/amiga-1200-demo.html
• Amiga Modules #5 by Mug U.K https://demozoo.org/productions/134809/
• Amiga Demo 2 by Oxygene https://www.atarimania.com/amiga-demo-ii.html
• Golden Dawn's Mod Disk #14 https://demozoo.org/productions/120194/
• Commando Raid by Tim https://www.atarimania.com/commando-raid.html
• Say Amiga One More Time Bitch by Samurai https://demozoo.org/graphics/180900/

Everyone's gone out!

Me Time

It’s been a wild couple of weeks playtesting two incredible versions of DOOM - STDOOM and DOOM8088. Honestly, I never thought I would see the day when I could even think about booting up id Software’s classic shooter on my Atari ST. Sure, it’s early days and there’s plenty of optimisation ahead (and much hopeful expectation), but I’m absolutely buzzing with excitement and wish Jonas/Frenkel all my beST.

That said, I figured it was time to get back to something a bit more “normal”. So today, the family are out so I decided to re/re/re/relive the glory days, 1990s style. As the familiar thrilling effects swirled and scrolled across my screen, a few others caught my eye and I couldn’t resist sharing them with you...

• StarPlayer is a MOD player that I've never booted up in my entire life! I thought I knew every type of tracker player for the ST/e, but alas, no. So this was a super-nice shock. It's actually a good program, with a nice design, and the mod's name is used as an adjustable sine wave. We can even alter the volume, balance, bass, and so on. I really like this player and should add it to this list I made a few years ago!! https://demozoo.org/productions/96029/
• PlaySID is something I've used loads over the years, yet sadly, not so much lately. And I've no idea why. The good'ol Commodore 64 has some crappy tunes but tons of fantastic ones also. Somehow, I actually forgot it has stereo playback, which is excellent. Cream nailed it once again for this brilliant chiptune player. https://demozoo.org/productions/65441/
• DBA #06. A legendary release. Not only was DBA a fantastic diskmag, but this particular one marked a change in how the ST sounded. At least for me. The disk's intro features music by Scavenger, one of my favourite musicians. It's mind-blowing, not only the music, but the visual effects help to produce something that is nothing less than iconic. https://demozoo.org/groups/13045/
• We Were @ is a favourite demo of mine, and arguably one of the best demos ever made. So stylish with many full-screen effects to blow you away. If you are one of the few 4MB STe owners that's never watched this demo, then rectify that right away. https://demozoo.org/productions/151600/
• Next up is Out A Time, which was released at Silly Venture by Baky, Jade, MiKRO, Sedma, Vasyl, and X-Ceed. The storage demands are huge, but everything worked fine for me. Thankfully so, because this is a stonking production! https://demozoo.org/productions/362494/
• It's about now you're probably wondering why only music and demos? How strange of you! Well, I ended with a game, and it's a belting platformer too. But I boot it up now and then for another reason. I'll leave you to fathom what that is, but I have a bigger grin than the Cheshire Cat's whenever I watch this awesome intro by the mighty Replicants!! https://www.atarilegend.com

So yeah, what started as a peaceful moment in the house turned into a full-blown blast through some of the best sights and sounds the Atari ST/e has to offer. Productions like these aren’t just eye/ear candy – they’re living proof of how much talent the ST scene has. Oh, and if you're wondering about the title image, it's from Yrasters by Extream. A wonderful screen that I've never seen before, and thoroughly enjoyed!

So that concludes my silliness for today. It's been fun reliving my youth, watching demos and listening to great chip music. Hang on, what am I saying - I do that most days with my Mega STe <gloating emoji>. I hope you have enjoyed this pointless posting of demoscene wonders. Have you got any favourites of your own - demos, music, intros, diskmags, etc/etc. Drop a comment below. I would love to check 'em out...

StarPlayer is superb, I loved the visual effects and superb 25 KHz playback.

Oh yeah, good old Commodore 64 tunes on the ST/e. Fantastic!!

One image does the DBA #06 intro no justice. Download it.

Leonard blows me away time and time again. An outstanding production.

This one was totally new to me and is an incredible showcase.

What a platformer, and now fully playable for the first time in decades!

Sine Scrollers?

Wibbly-Wobbly-Scrolling

I've always had a thing for sinus scrollers! I mean, just look at it. Gorgeous!! This screen is called The Two-Screens-Together Demo by Black Byte/Bytechangers and weighs in at 3.5Kb - less than JetPac!! But why so tiny? Well, it was programmed for the first-ever STNICCC in their "VIC Times Revisited" competition. I guess, the rules were obvious with a Ram limit based on the Commodore VIC-20. Impressive results!!

Sadly, there's no music but I guess there wasn't enough space left over, which is completely understandable. I would love to see this updated with music and freed from the shackles of that old competition because it's too good to remain as is. I'm sure something beautiful could be done with this piece of code?

I'm always on the lookout for demos with similar scrollers but I fail to remember which disks I saw back in my youth. So it's been a painful process manually hunting them down. Of course, similar effects are used in many demos for waves, circle scrollers, distorting images, etc/etc... but I'm specifically referring to a sine wave used for a horizontal text scroller - like the one displayed above in all its wavey sexiness.

There must be a ton of cracktros and demo screens that I've forgotten about!! So, if you know of any using this sine scrolling technique, then please let me know in the comments below. Until then, here is a selection of text scrollers using the sinus effects which are all utterly amazing and definitely worth downloading...

Nibble Scrapping Smooth Sine Scroller by XXX International

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Possibly the best-known ST sine scroller I'd say? Okay, there's no sound but the visual effect is great and incredibly well coded. I wish more would have been done but there's no denying how cool this is.

Circle Dots by MJJ Prod

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This is such a smooth screen and with gorgeous music by Dma-Sc. The scroller is sine-tastic and works well with the stark palette style which really appeals to me. Oh, and there are some dots too which ain't too bad!

Sinfull Sinuses by Chronicle

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What a great demo this is with a bunch of cool visual fx and great music. The sinus parts are very good throughout but this is all about the sinus text so I loved their big blue sine scroller, which is just lovely.

Electrolytical Artificial Intelligence by ACF Design Team

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Another fine sine example and taken from one of the best megademos there is - Just Buggin'

Disk #0052 by BITS

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A slap-bang, in-your-face, no-frills sinus scroller and it's pretty darn excellent too!!

Flexiscroll by The Resistance

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An awesome screen from the Decade Demo but it spends (most) of its time doing everything other than what I wanted to see! However, as a demo, it's pretty cool with some lovely fx and wonderful chip music.

Genesys by Aenigmatica

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Yes, it's quite mild but the sine scrolling is there and I like it. This is a pretty great demo too.

Menu #3 by Electronic

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I don't remember this group from back in the day but here's an intro with a nice sine-scroller. Sadly, there appear to be many of their disks that still need to be found and preserved. Can you help?

Module Compilation #09 - Plejades

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An intro for a cool MOD disk that includes (possibly) the best player available for the Atari STe? Well, I was blown away by it! Anyhow, this intro has a dodgy image, cool music, and a neat sinewave to enjoy.

Arsch Screen by FOXX

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This was released as part of Phaleon's GigaDemo and boy what a screen from an outstanding megademo. Nothing short of mind-blowing. Yes, both the sine scroller and the megademo. What a point in time this was!!

Alvin Puzzles Cracktro by Elite & STAX

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This cracktro was used many times because it's fast, classy, and superb. I only wish the sine scroller had a splash (ahem) colour! One of my favourite intros for the ST. Erm, cracktro I meant to say.

Mr Heli Cracktro by The Replicants

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The Replicants released what seemed like a zillion hacks and I've found a fantastic sine-scroller disk!!

The Greetings Screen by MJJ Prod

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The Anomaly Megademo is an absolute cracker and this screen is simply divine. Outstanding. [link]

Phototro by Hemoroids

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This is a superb demo with a great plasma screen but the sine scroller is also pretty darn cool.

Atari ST demos [part two]

Following on from my previous post, here is part two of my personal homage to some earlier demos that I admire. Keep watching, because I continue with two of the best megademos the world has ever seen before ending with Virtual Escape, possibly the best half-meg Atari ST demo ever? Who knows, do you? Let me know in the comments below!

Once again, I hope you all enjoy what is nothing more than a silly fan-made video of a few demos that I remember enjoying from around 1988 onwards. Each production can be downloaded from either AtariMania or Demozoo.

Finally, I've added an excellent background chiptune called Harmless, by Nemo aka Jan Daldrup.

1. Grusel by Eckhard Kruse: I've always loved this and so does my daughter 30yrs later!!
2. Death Of The Left Border by TNT: Finally, the left border had gone - an incredible moment.
3. Singing Raisins by John Blakely & Mark Booth: An early animation which is so funny.
4. The Junk Demo by TCB: From start to end these guys never failed to impress.
5. Dark Side Of The Spoon by ULM: from the moment I first heard "U..L..M". Superb!!
6. European Demos by OVR: What a jaw-dropping megademo with some incredible screens.
7. Virtual Escape by Equinox: This runs on an 8Mhz computer with half a meg Ram. Outstanding!!

Atari ST demos [part one]

I decided to make a video showcasing a limited selection of the earlier Atari ST demos that hold a special place in my heart. You know, those productions which made our brains, eyes and ears explode with shock and excitement when we saw our machine doing things it was never supposed to be able to do. Well, that was the start of a special era, alright!

I hope you all enjoy this video and I've also added one of my favourite chiptunes as a cool backing track, Best Part Of The Creation by Big Alec. A mesmerising tune from "Punish Your Machine" which is also one of few medium-resolution screens for the ST. Every demo is available on AtariMania and Demozoo and here is what I decided to pick:

1. README.PRG by The Exceptions: Come on, nobody expected this when double-clicking that icon!
2. Little Color Demo by The Exceptions: This is something I really love to listen to over and over.
3. Full Screen Demo by Level 16: Both my TV and I were blown away by this stunning feat!
4. The Union Demo by The Union: I still remember ordering this!! What a moment in time.
5. The Cuddly Demos by The Carebears: To me, this felt like a Union Demo II. Ace STuff.
6. Overdrive Demo by Phalanx: Oh, that menu. Wow, incredible!! How did they do it?
7. Mindbomb by The Lost Boys: Possibly the best demo team? Ohhh what have I just started? lol 

Update: I've made a follow-up video. Clickety Click! :)

Demoscene poster

Your mancave needs this!

The most amazing demoscene poster has been updated again. If you have never seen this before you should take a look and download it! Clickety click to view this jaw-dropper by Gregory le Roux (HMD!!)

For those who may not know who this chap is (where have you been?), visit Demozoo...

The History of ULM

U..L..M..!!

I saw a stupid tweet the other day about the Atari ST demoscene by someone who is obviously an Amoeba user. Rather than rise to the bait, it inspired me to write this quick piece. Besides, we know the ST has a belting scene that is alive & kicking! (View recent masterpieces like We Were @ + Strange roboTS). Powerful STuff!!

Additionally, there is a web page by Georges Kesseler of ULM. It details his interesting ST-history, which I thought was pure gold. I wonder if it was originally part of an older website? An intriguing read of great ST devs.

http://www.ulm.lu/ulm_web.html