========================================================================== Sifting through the mail once again, the Newsflash Dustbin reveals allsorts of dirt, worry and intrigue.. and the odd laugh ========================================================================== Many thanks to Ronald Schalekamp (try saying that if you're english and had a few beers and never set sight on Dutch before) and his brother for sending in the most impressive "golden-goals" so far for the kick off 2 competition, can anyone beat these goals I wonder... 4 fabulous goals, entries must be recieved before Dec 20. Results next issue - a fine prize awaits, well a prize at any rate. Anyway Ronald says in his letter than he loves Newsflash so keep on making it, thanks Ronald, I'm glad you like it - he also asks for a special on cyber-space and all that. Well that's one thing I'm not the worlds, or even my room's expert on so if anyone wants to write something on cyber- space and all that, while at the same time informing me just what it is then I'd be pretty pleased. Many thanks to Bob troughton for all the bit's he sends me, I'm sorry I'm rather slow at replying but I get there in the end... I hope you're enjoying the music that Bjorn was sending. Dean Ashton (he who comes from Scarborough, Uk or thereabouts) has asked if anyone would care to do a series on Assembler, eg for 3d graphics, one month vector, next line-removal, next filled etc. Well this is fine, the only problem is that a) finding someone with time to do it each month b) finding someone who'll do it for next-to-nothing until we are able to pay people! So you see that we're kind of stuck for the moment, relying on enthusiasts etc.. Be sure that if we are in the position to pay for contributions, this is the sort of thing we will be looking at. Dean also offered some criticisms (ouch!)... 1) He doesn't like the selector method on disk B. 2) Move editorials onto the front menu, copyright/distribution further in I would say: 1) When complaining of a way of selecting items on disk 2, say how you'ld like it to be done - or improved. 2) Is this REALLY important??? hehe Randy Zimmer, of Wellsville, Ohio, USA writes: "I got a program called Soundtracker 2.3 from a PD house. I found out later that there were several files missing, Preset Ed, PLST, Muzak Ripper etc. The program will not work without these files, all I can do is play the music. Could you tell me how to get the above missing programs, do you know of other utilities that can be used with soundtracker? I hope you can help - can you tell me if this is a PD, Shareware or commercial program?" First of all let's start off with your last question.. Soundtracker originally started off as a commercial program in it's version 1.0. Programmers got hold of this and started adding their own features and later on, MasterSoundtracker was released. Even this was not good enough and before long complete re-writes were done and so it continued for two years before Noisetracker appeared. Noisetracker v1.0 had more and better features than anything else, was a re-write and soon became the standard, long after 2.3 had appeared. Of course Noisetracker 1.1 and 1.2 followed then the commercial Noisetracker 2.0, the last I heard was that Soundtracker was 2.5 or 2.6, but most people had taken to Noisetracker by this time. The latest 'tracker to arrive is Protracker 1.1b, which is on this issue of Newsflash! As for the missing files, most are unessential to running the program, PLST is a file containing the names of the available instruments on the data disks that you should have got but it sound's like you didn't. The program PRESET ED creates the PLST which is essentially a data file for the early soundtrackers use and later versions don't need it as they can load directly from the source disk. Muzak Ripper is a program that can steal/rip music from demos/games so you can examine/edit or play it in soundtracker. There have been hundreds of different utilities made for 'tracker derivatives, players, rippers, sources, preset editors. Most do the same type of thing. The current best ripper is Multiripper and with the latest versions of the 'tracker programs, Preset Ed is made obsolete. You face a small problem in america in that 99% of the tracker programs are PAL based and don't work 100% over there, in fact only songs replayed using a CIA timer routine (such as the one in Module Professor) will work fine, other music runs 20% faster. Because of this, soundtracker stuff in america is pretty thin on the ground whereas it is common-place over here, and it's mainly the reason why most American Amiga users are stunned when they hear european music. With the advent of the new fatter-agnus chip I hope that more and more european software will be able to run in the states. You can of course send away for european pd material which will be brimming with the stuff... or get hold of a newer 'tracker program - or if you're reading this then you're problems are solved... :-) I've mentioned Rafal Wiosna a few times this issue and it's time to mention his nice letter to newsflash, Rafal has read three issues and has "fallen in love with it" - well Rafal, I'd watch out for the metal shutters on the disk, they can give a nasty scratch if you're not careful! Rafal reckons its "the best and ultimate amiga disk-magazine in the whole world" - well, who are we to argue? We'd certainly like to see a better one, we've said that before and no-one has sent one, so we reckon it must be... flash routine's do not make a good magazine, our's are fairly conservative in comparsion to some but I'm sure it's the content, each month that people like Rafal and you, reading, enjoy. Rafal goes on and says he'd like to write an article for us.. well of course our reply is great.. anything sent to us is regarded as a bonus.. we've been trying to underline the fact that Newsflash is a give and take thing for ages, it really does allow our readers to participate. I would mention that art and music/demos have to be of a high standard though, basically because of the support we've had, it has to be on a par with material we've included so far... Ok, most of the mail has been not of the questioning nature this month, if you have any questions, problems or anything - PLEASE WRITE, the mail section is popular area and your chance to have a say, we DO listen to what is said and care what our readers think (awww) - so go.. put finger to key and send something in... Most people who write will get a reply too, sooner or later, depending on just how busy I am at the time... Seeya next time... Martyn/Newsflash (UK)