SoundTrack: BY KASPUTIS SERGEY/SSG'97
__________________________________________
(C) PLAYGEAR COMPANY/BD Author: Bazhenov Alexander/Ze Pagan
__________________________________________
└√ l
┴√ l
@┬√ l
`├√ l
A─√ l
a┼√ l
└╞√ l
p╟√ l
╔√ l
╩√ l
@╦√ l
`╠√ l
"Winter this year is harsh..."
From the book "How Bad It Is in Siberia in Winter"
Y-e-s... It’s cold in winter here, that’s true! And the snow can pile up until the end of April. But it's not all that terrible, almost always spring follows winter. For example, it happened this time too... A little over a month has passed since the release of DEJA VU #04 and a little less since the event dedicated to this occasion. In general, we have already fully recovered and were hard at work on the next number. It should be noted that we have not stopped working on the magazine for the second year, i.e., after completing the next issue, with a break of just a few days, we immediately start working on the next one! If you want – this is our normal work rhythm... So, one time we gathered at Card!nal's place to solve some pressing issues regarding the magazine's shell. The weather was quite nice and I looked out the window more often than at the monitor. Nature seemed to whisper, though I couldn’t quite make it out. It was clear: enough of the concrete jungle – time to go free! I immediately expressed my thoughts and, as it turned out, Dan!!l and Card!nal also longed for some green grass. Said and done! Although at first Card!nal started to complain that he had some exams coming up soon, but we didn’t buy it and put the question bluntly: either you’re with us, or you’ll live your whole life on just your salary! This was a strong argument (I would even say - unfair), and Card!nal agreed. In general, it was decided to throw a party the next day, but to consume in nature with just the three of us... p-u-u! That sounds more like a drinking party, don’t you agree! Therefore, after a brief deliberation, it was decided to take along a cool foreigner, of course, CAV. I was entrusted with a very responsible task – to prepare semi-finished products from chicken legs (which I had in abundance at that time), namely: to marinate them, since we were going to make shashlik and not just any shashlik, but a COOL SHASHLIK! Leaving Card!nal's place, I called CAV, while shooing away a little kid who kept asking. - Uncle, hey Uncle, give me a buck for bread! To which I reasonably remarked. - New ones or old ones? The kid stuck his tongue out at me and muttered as he walked away. - You’re stingy – just say it! I dialed the number and while listening to the long beeps, I told the kid. - Go to hell - you jerk! - You’re the jerk! - the phone immediately replied. - I wasn’t talking to you! - I realized. - Then who the hell were you talking to? - the voice asked. Judging by the last word, I realized it was CAV, which I immediately confirmed. - CAV, is that you? - Probability - 90%. - the phone replied arrogantly. - And the other 10%? - I asked sarcastically. - The rest - who cares! - CAV said cheerfully. At that moment, I understood that it was pointless to argue further and immediately got down to business. - Listen, CAV, we decided to have some shashlik in nature, are you free tomorrow? - Uh-huh. - he replied succinctly. - Well then we’ll be waiting. - I said and headed home. There, I immediately sat down at the computer and got busy with some article for the magazine. The article was substantial and I finished only at one o'clock in the morning, completely forgetting about the chicken legs! I had to urgently prepare the marinade and everything else, hoping that I wouldn’t be killed tomorrow for such sloppiness... Everyone arrived right on time and we, not wasting any time, headed out of town on foot, since we live almost on the outskirts. On the way, we "slightly" stocked up, so the meat would be better absorbed. About twenty minutes later, we were almost there. Around us stretched cool landscapes: to the left were the last houses of new buildings, while to the right was something like a garbage dump. Card!nal, who was walking and mumbling some rules of the Russian language to himself, suddenly stopped and lifted his right leg, carefully examining the sole. This immediately piqued our interest and we approached closer. He stood on one leg like a stork and, making a face, said. - Crap, it’s mine - neuter gender. CAV looked suspiciously at Card!nal. - Yours? - Very funny. - Card!nal muttered, wiping his foot on the grass. - Not mine, but a dog's. - And why is it a dog’s? - the inquisitive CAV wouldn’t give up. - Not a dog’s, but a dog’s. - Card!nal corrected him - Look closer. - And why the hell should I look at it? Crap, brother, it’s such a thing that no matter how you look at it, it’s still just crap! - CAV philosophically declared. - That's for sure! - we said in unison and continued walking. A couple of minutes later, we found a spot on a hill and began to settle in. As has long been known, to make shashlik you need fire, and to get fire you need firewood. Coming to such a complicated conclusion, we scattered in search of it. The problem was indeed very complicated, as the area we had chosen clearly suffered from a lack of firewood. Card!nal had been wandering around one spot in the glade for about ten minutes trying to find something. - What the hell is he doing there? - Dan!!l exclaimed. - Probably catching crickets. - I suggested. - What crickets, damn it! - CAV poked his head out of the bushes. - It’s May! - What crickets, what crickets! - I mimicked him. - Little and stupid ones, that’s what! CAV waved his hand and disappeared into the bushes. With great difficulty, Dan!!l and I gathered a few twigs and dragged a couple of logs. Then Card!nal appeared, with a satisfied look carrying a bunch of grass in each hand. Dan!!l was left speechless by such rudeness, and I politely asked. - You didn’t overdo it, did you? You can take a little break. Card!nal noticed that he wasn’t tired at all. Dan!!l regained his ability to speak and grumbled. - Well, at least you didn’t bring any green stuff. - What am I, completely nuts? - Card!nal was offended and snorted. CAV was still nowhere to be seen, but he could be heard well. He was working about thirty meters away from us in the bushes, in the lowland. Loud NAHIGs and POFIGs were coming from the bushes, and the bushes themselves were shaking as if a bear was being poisoned there. - What the hell is he doing there! - Dan!!l threw up his hands in confusion. - Well, he’s definitely not catching crickets. - I replied. - We need to check it out. - Card!nal said. We really needed to check it out, as CAV was shaking the air with his decibels so much that conflicts with the local population could arise. The thing is, we were in close proximity to the outer houses, and fervent greenpeace activists in the form of old men and women are quite common these days... In general, they could call somewhere, drop a line, or knock. We approached the bushes and heard CAV's next monologue. - ... here I am sitting, damn it, like some kind of loser, bleep! And I've been sawing this damn branch for half an hour. You can't even call it a branch! Just a stick, damn it, and that’s it. And these guys, bleep, don’t care! They didn’t even think to bring an axe, tourists, damn it! And all the same, bleep, they want to communicate with nature. But this nature, bleep, definitely doesn’t care, since it can’t provide people with the essentials, damn it! They don’t even have any shabby firewood! They should have gone to the forest instead of showing off here. Instead, like some kind of heat pipeline workers, bleep, they popped up from who knows where, and instead of disappearing out of sight, they all want the whole city to see how PLAYGEAR is hanging out! What, couldn’t they have just cooked these legs at home like normal people do? Personally, I’m already fed up with this romanticism! And in general... We didn’t listen to what else he was saying and poked our heads into the bushes. The sight that met our eyes was quite amusing. CAV was sitting in the thick of the bushes on his butt, all sweaty from his passionate speeches, sawing a huge stick sticking out of the ground with a table knife. The spectacle was quite funny, at least for us, and we burst out laughing. - A-a-a! - CAV exclaimed upon seeing us - tourists have arrived! Dan!!l, barely containing his laughter, said. - Listen, CAV, a collective farm, of course, is a voluntary matter, but why don’t you go and take... - here he pointed through the bushes at a quite decent log lying about thirty meters away. - So I’m supposed to run around the glade like a stupid user collecting all sorts of crap?! - CAV flared up. - I can cover it in one minute with Win’doze, damn it. And this stick is a matter of principle, either I deal with it, or it’s going to finish me off! And he lunged at it again with fury. - Doesn’t this remind you of anything? - I asked Card!nal and pointed at CAV. Card!nal picked his nose and said. - Prisoner of Buchenwald? - N-o-o. - AURIN in logging? - N-o-o. - A madhouse on a walk? - No, come on! Just remember the movie "The Golden Calf"! - A-a-a-a! - Card!nal finally got it and turning to CAV, pronounced with pathos. - Saw, Shura, saw! - I’ll kill you!!! - CAV screamed and, abandoning his now beloved activity, jumped on Card!nal. Dan!!l and I barely managed to catch this ninja mid-air and all four of us tumbled into the bushes. After tussling for a minute, we finally calmed down the hot-blooded guy from Rybinsk and explained to him that it was just an innocent joke. - Innocent?! - CAV protested, poking at the bruises and scrapes on his knees. - Happens. - I shrugged - you can write it down as production costs. - Again! - CAV growled. - Look! - Dan!!l suddenly exclaimed and pointed behind our backs. - A snake! - Card!nal screamed and disappeared from sight. CAV, who was sitting closest to the spot Dan!!l pointed at, stammered. - T-t-here, what really... this - and he tried to depict a snake with his fingers. - Worse! - Dan!!l replied, making a scary face. CAV's glasses fell off his nose and he timidly said. - Is there something worse? - Stop scaring the guy! - I couldn’t help but say. - It’s just the stick you were sawing that broke by itself. CAV, still looking at us distrustfully, turned around. - And now let’s get out of here! - I whispered to Dan!!l and we dashed out of the bushes. Card!nal, standing nearby, anxiously asked. - Where’s CAV? - You’ll see now! - we said, running past him. Then a roar like that of a wounded tiger came from the bushes and CAV appeared, waving the same stick in all directions. - I’ll take everyone’s life, damn it! - he yelled with a righteous anger, and upon seeing the stunned Card!nal, he charged at him with a shout: "PC rulez!" Card!nal, thinking that he had indeed been bitten by some very contagious viper, didn’t wait for the bloody conclusion and bolted after us... CAV ran around the glade with the stick for another ten minutes, but we quickly moved around, all three of us in different directions. As Card!nal later said, to throw off the scent. And we didn’t argue with him... After running around enough and cooling down a bit, we finally got down to the main goal of our picnic. So, the fire was lit and all misunderstandings were resolved. But, as it turned out, sitting on the still damp ground with a bare butt is not very cool. (By the way, regarding "bare butt" - this is, of course, a figurative expression, so don’t think anything of it...) Before us arose no less complicated a task - to find "chairs." CAV claimed that he knew where to find them, and we went with him. Soon he led us to the spot and proudly showed them. - Well, how!? - he asked self-satisfied, apparently expecting to hear loud praises. The "chairs" turned out to be wheel rims from either URAL or KAMAZ, weighing no less than a hundred kilograms each! Of course, we are not weak guys, but not to that extent. Dan!!l, making a sad face, said. - CAV, you need treatment! - and walked in the other direction. - I’d rather stand on my feet. - Card!nal said and went back. CAV gloomily looked at me and, putting his foot forward, proclaimed in a terrible voice. - And you, Brutus!? - And I, CAV! - I shrugged. However, this task was also successfully solved. Each got his own seat. An old washing machine, or rather, what was left of it, was used as a table. It was time to start making shashlik. But we lacked the most important attribute - skewers. The event was on the verge of collapse! Dan!!l saved everyone. Under the cover of night, like a dark demon, he sneaked into the sanctum sanctorum of his mother and stole several knitting needles, which served us, albeit crappy, as skewers... ... I can only say that we had a great time and that my fears were in vain - the shashlik turned out to be COOL!
Contents of the publication: Deja Vu #05
- Аперативчик - Max
Detailed instructions on managing the DEJA VU interface, highlighting different input methods and navigation commands. Explanation of the new and old interfaces for enhanced user experience. Discussion on additional features like frame scrolling and music management.
- Аперативчик - Max
Discussion on supporting machines with more than 128k memory, leading to separate shells for 128k and 256k systems. Testing was mainly done on Scorpion and Profi, with functionality on other models anticipated. Article includes guidance on unpacking source files and insights on using improved algorithms.
- Тема - M.M.A
This article explores the theory behind digitizing sound on ZX Spectrum, focusing on sampling and quantization processes. It provides practical insights into converting sound files using specific hardware and software. Additionally, it offers methods to enhance sound quality while working within the hardware limitations.
- Theme
The article discusses the Save Our Scene initiative aimed at uniting Spectrum users and developers to promote software distribution and enhance the scene's development.
- Charter of the Amazing Soft Making Association
Discussion of the founding charter of the Amazing Soft Making association, detailing its goals, membership criteria, and operational principles.
- Theory of Magazine Creation
The article provides a detailed guide for aspiring magazine creators, focusing on technical aspects such as interface design, memory management, text formatting, and music integration for ZX Spectrum publications.
- Solder Drop
The article provides a personal account of purchasing and using the General Sound device for ZX Spectrum, detailing installation and sound performance. It discusses the initial issues encountered and praises the enhanced audio experience in compatible games. The author encourages further software adaptation for the device and reflects on multimedia capabilities with simultaneous hardware use.
- Solder Drop
The article discusses the capabilities of Sound Forge 4.0c for professional audio processing on PCs, highlighting its extensive features such as sound editing, effects, and restoration tools.
- SOFTWARE
The article reviews the latest software developments for the ZX Spectrum from Samara, including updates to MAXSOFT SCREEN PACKER, File Commander, and new applications like S-Terminal.
- SOFTWARE - Card!nal
Review and walkthrough of the logical graphic adventure game 'Operation R.R.' with detailed level instructions. Discussion on game elements like music choice and graphic design. Mentions new coder MAX/CYBERAX/BINARY DIMENSION's involvement.
- SOFTWARE
Discussion on the current state and evolution of the demoscene, highlighting the rise of 4K intros and upcoming competitions like FUNTOP'98.
- CODING
Article discusses assembly language coding techniques for optimizing screen scrolling on ZX Spectrum, featuring example code and performance analysis.
- CODING - RLA
The article explores stack manipulation techniques during second type interrupts for graphical effects on ZX Spectrum. It discusses solutions for preserving data integrity when interrupts disrupt graphical operations. Practical examples are provided to handle stack issues efficiently.
- CODING
The article describes the MS-PACK packer and its DEPACKER, detailing usage scenarios and providing BASIC and assembly code examples for handling packed files. It emphasizes optimizing performance by allowing unpacking with interrupts enabled and separating the DEPACKER from packed files. Additionally, it includes insights on programming techniques for loading and executing BASIC files on ZX Spectrum.
- CODING
The article discusses various coding techniques for ZX Spectrum, focusing on sprite rendering, rotation algorithms, and optimization methods to enhance performance.
- ANOTHER WORLD
Discussion on the evolution of multimedia technologies and their impact on various fields, including education and entertainment. It covers advances in computer hardware and software that have facilitated the integration of audio, video, and text. The article reflects on past developments and speculates on the future of multimedia systems.
- ANOTHER WORLD
Comparison of PC and Amiga systems highlighting performance, software costs, and user experience with multimedia capabilities.
- Honor Roll
Interview with PROGRESS discusses their creative journey on ZX Spectrum and AMIGA, addressing challenges in demomaking and the current state of the scene.
- Honor Roll
The article details the activities and future projects of the Eternity Industry team, based in Kovrov, including successful releases and collaborations with other groups.
- Honor Roll
Discussion of the Artcomp'98 festival, focusing on its mail-in format and guidelines for various competitions, including demo, graphics, and music categories.
- Honor Roll
The article provides a glossary of terms used in the demo scene, explaining roles such as musician, coder, and graphician, as well as different types of demos and effects. It serves as a useful resource for understanding the terminology and dynamics of the community. This is a descriptive piece aimed at educating readers about the jargon of the demo scene.
- Honor Roll
The article discusses the issues with mouse support in various ZX Spectrum magazines and the frustrations of users when encountering compatibility problems. It critiques developers for not adhering to standards, leading to poor user experiences. The author expresses the importance of consistent improvements in software for the ZX Spectrum community.
- Honor Board
The article discusses the process of creating tricolor images for ZX Spectrum using Photoshop and a simplified approach. It outlines how to divide an image into RGB channels and convert them for use on the Spectrum. Additionally, it provides tips on how to manage the files for optimal results.
- Honor Roll
The article discusses the comparison and perspectives on various computer systems, particularly emphasizing the strengths of AMIGA over PC and advocating for appreciation of all machines.
- Seven and a Half
Article discusses the humorous absurdities and peculiarities of military training and academia, blending satire with real anecdotes and witty observations.
- Seven and a Half
The article provides a satirical manual on programming methodologies, mocking the rigidity of formal programming practices and advocating for a more creative approach to coding.
- Seven and a Half
Instructions on safe sex practices, including guidelines on eligibility, preparation, and actions during and after the sexual session, along with handling emergency situations.
- Seven and a Half
The article discusses a call for a talented artist in Krasnodar for a ZX Spectrum group, raises concerns about the unethical practices of Scorpion regarding software rights, and critiques a video review of E'97.
- Seven and a Half
The article 'Семь и 1/2' narrates a humorous picnic adventure involving the editorial team of Deja Vu, highlighting their camaraderie and mishaps while preparing a barbecue.
- Trial of the Pen
The article is a humorous take on the fictional adventures of Winnie the Pooh as he interacts with computers and friends, discussing the absurdities of technology and daily life.
- First Pen
The article discusses the new section in Deja Vu dedicated to fantasy and science fiction literature, featuring book reviews and reader participation in content creation.
- Advertisement
The article is an advertisement section from Deja Vu #05, promoting collaborations with designers and musicians for future issues, and offering various software and hardware for ZX Spectrum.
- News
The article announces the launch of a new magazine, AMIGA RULES, focused on the AMIGA computer, addressing the lack of quality Russian-language publications. It aims to provide information on programming, hardware, software, and gaming, while fostering a community among AMIGA enthusiasts. The magazine will include contributions from readers and regular updates on the AMIGA scene.
