MmcM - The Blossoming Years by Hype Allstars [web]
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ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Üßß ßßÜ
ßÜ ° Main Info ° Üß
± ____________________________________________________ ±
² ²
Û "The Blossoming Years" is a new album by MmcM, who Û
Û is one of the most prominent musicians to come out Û
Û of the Russian ZX Spectrum demoscene. A compilation Û
Û of 18 tracks from 1999-2001 shows the musician at Û
Û the peak of his creative powers and easily explains Û
Û the cult following that he enjoys in the homeland. Û
Û Û
Û The executable version of the album is made for Û
Û an ultimate listening experience on a 48K ZX Û
Û Spectrum with an AY8912 add-on or on any classic Û
Û model with 128K of RAM. Some popular Russian-made Û
Û clones are also supported. Û
Û Û
Û Hardware requirements: Û
Û Û
Û (*) ZX Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+2a/+2b/+3, or Û
Û (*) Pentagon / Pentagon-compatible clones, or Û
Û (*) ZS Scorpion 256 Turbo+. Û
Û Û
Û Duration: 1 hour approx. Û
Û Û
Û HD recording of the full album is available at Û
Û http://youtu.be/2eJNCm6bWww Û
Û Û
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Üßß ßßÜ
ßÜ ° Tracklist ° Üß
± ____________________________________________________ ±
² ²
Û 01. Assured 3:43 Û
Û 02. Jungle Bit Popsacid 2:10 Û
Û 03. Melancholy 2:01 Û
Û 04. Mentbi 3:35 Û
Û 05. Bit Of Fantasy 3:00 Û
Û 06. Cybernation 3:05 Û
Û 07. Al-ya Trance 2:45 Û
Û 08. Mad Men 2:34 Û
Û 09. Bugs In My Mind 2:40 Û
Û 10. Changeability 4:22 Û
Û 11. Dance With Me Death 3:42 Û
Û 12. Hopeful 5:11 Û
Û 13. Laxity 2:29 Û
Û 14. Nostalgia In My Soul 4:08 Û
Û 15. Seeing 2:00 Û
Û 16. Offence 3:58 Û
Û 17. Rescue Me 3:14 Û
Û 18. Suggestive 5:02 Û
Û Û
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Üßß ßßÜ
ßÜ ° The "Hype Allstars" Crew for ZX Spectrum version ° Üß
± ____________________________________________________ ±
² ²
Û (in alphabetic order) Û
Û Û
Û diver^4d (Graphics, Design) Û
Û dman^pcb^b7 (Ascii Art) Û
Û hacker vbi (Scroller Coding) Û
Û hun7er^cc (Party Spirit Support) Û
Û introspec^lom (Design, Main Code) Û
Û mmcm^sa9e (Music, All 18 Tracks) Û
Û nodeus^lf (Video Montage) Û
Û nq^skrju (Jingles for Hype and Album Intros) Û
Û sq^skrju (Bug Hunting) Û
Û trefi^debris (Hype Intro Coding) Û
Û unbeliever (Nothing, but Ideas) Û
Û Û
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Üßß ßßÜ
ßÜ ° Linear Notes by introspec ° Üß
± ____________________________________________________ ±
² ²
Û The ZX Spectrum version of the music disc was made Û
Û in a little over 2 weeks. Although I immediately Û
Û jumped at the opportunity to make a music disc with Û
Û some of the MmcM's classic tracks, the restrictions Û
Û that we posed upon ourselves (we wanted the album Û
Û in the form of a single-load 48K demo) meant that Û
Û we had to resolve some pretty severe challenges. Û
Û Û
Û One hour of pt3 music selected for the album Û
Û originally occupied 97697 bytes, with the longest Û
Û track measuring at 9705 bytes. We did not have time Û
Û to design a player of compressed music (this would Û
Û not be particularly pt3-friendly anyway), so we had Û
Û to improvise. Using few tricks and the wonders of Û
Û the amazing Aplib by Joergen Ibsen we managed to Û
Û compress the music data down to 29440 bytes. Û
Û Together with buffer for the longest track, this Û
Û occupied 29440+9705=39145 of the memory normally Û
Û available on the 48K machine, leaving us about Û
Û 49152-39145-6912(screen) ~ 3095 bytes to play with, Û
Û which is pretty tight given that over half of this Û
Û space would be taken by a pt3 player and unpacker. Û
Û Û
Û Thus, we had a choice to make. We could have tried Û
Û to make an extremely minimalistic player in 1K, but Û
Û we knew that it would be lacking. Hence, we decided Û
Û to design for the situation. Specifically, we Û
Û placed 4K of compressed music data into the screen Û
Û and then worked on the design to hide the resulting Û
Û limitatons as much as we possibly could. Û
Û Û
Û Specifically, the spectrum visualizer in the upper Û
Û third of the screen may appear to be a trivial Û
Û attribute effect, done countless number of times Û
Û before. However, since the bitmap data for the Û
Û screen there stores data, we are only allowed to Û
Û use attributes with the same INK and PAPER colours. Û
Û We resolved this limitation by a specially designed Û
Û raster effect (we call it "multicolour" here on Û
Û Spectrum). The middle third is fully available for Û
Û drawing, but since lower and upper thirds are Û
Û distinctly low-rez, we felt that we needed to use Û
Û lower resolution in the middle too. Hence, we Û
Û designed a colour chunk display with a bit of Û
Û subtle "gigascreen" to double the effective Û
Û horizontal colour resolution. Û
Û Û
Û The bulk of code for this music disc was written Û
Û afresh, although multicolor and hardware detection Û
Û modules come from my other projects. In addition to Û
Û these, we used Aplib unpackers by dwedit, optimized Û
Û by utopian and Metalbrain, as well an integrated Û
Û RCS+ZX7 decoder by Einar Saukas. The music is Û
Û played using a modded version of Sergey Bulba's Û
Û "ptxplay.asm". A use is also made of the arbitrary Û
Û delay routine by Jan Bobrowski. Û
Û Û
Û The fact that I write so many words does not mean Û
Û that I made the demo alone. This project was a Û
Û truly collaborative project, with tangible, Û
Û explicit contributions coming from at least 8 Û
Û different people. I do not know the situation for Û
Û other scenes, but this scale, for ZX Spectrum Û
Û scene, was unthinkable, in my mind, even half a Û
Û year ago. To a large extent, this became possible Û
Û because of the creation of "Hype", a new website, Û
Û a combination of a mag and a board for Spectrum Û
Û scene obsessives and their friends. Û
Û Û
Û It is extremely late and therefore I am a little Û
Û scared to write greets, in a fear of surely Û
Û forgetting some people. Hence, I'll just write Û
Û few short greets for my co-authors. Û
Û Û
Û diver^4d: Û
Û it is great to have a friend I can always Û
Û rely on in a moment of need. Love the art you Û
Û made here and hope that I did not cause you too Û
Û much stress with all this mess and all those Û
Û out-of-the-blue graphic design sessions. Û
Û Û
Û dman^pcb^b7: Û
Û many thanks for the ASCII, man, sorry if Û
Û butchered some of it with my clumsy editing. Û
Û Û
Û hacker vbi: Û
Û Vova, thank you very much for being the shining Û
Û beakon of sanity :) You helped me a lot. Û
Û Û
Û mmcm^sa9e: Û
Û I hope you enjoy what you find here. Û
Û Û
Û nodeus^lf Û
Û thank you for stepping in the moment of great Û
Û need! I am looking forward to seeing your work. Û
Û Û
Û nq^skrju: Û
Û many thanks for your help, mate. Both your Û
Û jingles are absolutely delicious. Note to other Û
Û demomakers: the PSG for the second part of the Û
Û intro packs into measly 741 bytes. Much amaze! Û
Û Û
Û sq^skrju: Û
Û I do not know what you did to find that bug, Û
Û but it great not to have it anymore! Û
Û Û
Û trefi^debris: Û
Û what an absolutely lovely intro and written on Û
Û an extremely short notice too! Mate, you know Û
Û where to find me when you need help. Û
Û Û
Û unbeliever: Û
Û you inspired and irritated, in equal measure, Û
Û pretty much all of us. This was definitely a Û
Û very interesting experience! Û
Û Û
Û Greetings to everyone who cares about ZX scene. Û
Û Û
Û Be cool. Û
Û° °Û
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