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MmcM - The Blossoming Years by Hype Allstars [web]



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