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CL9:           Where's the AHI?!
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CL4:               By Kam_

CL1:Before I start to write about the main
topic of this article, I'll consider a
certain  question:   I  want  to write
about the lack of multichannel modules
in  the  Eurochart.   This  is  a very
narrow  topic,  so  many  of you might
doubt  the  sense in making an article
like  this  for  a  diskmag.   Maybe I
should  simply  send  an e-mail to the
maineditor  of  Eurochart  -  Darkhawk
that  is-  and present my arguments to
him?   No.   I've felt that this topic
is   quite  linked  to  some  negative
scene-things,  and  an  article  about
this   can  be  interesting  for  some
people.     Perhaps   I   might   open
somebody's  eyes  to  certain matters?
Or maybe not?

CL0:What  is the most important thing in a
diskmagazine?   Graphics?   Well,  the
title  picture  must  be quite good, a
clear  panel  will  make  the  reading
easy,  and  extra  cliparts  would  be
nice.   But  no - graphics are not the
most  important  thing.   Music?  Huh,
cool  scene tunes are needed!  They're
building  atmosphere  and  put us in a
pleasant   mood.    But  again  -  you
know...   Perhaps  code?  Yes, code is
important,  but not the most important
thing.

CL1:So,  what  should diskmag makers drive
at?   Of  course  the  magazine should
open  on  the computer of each scener.
Is   it   difficult?   Certainly  not!
Everybody in the scene are PPC owners?
No,   the   majority   still  use  old
Motorola's,  so  the mag should be for
those  cards.   Graphic cards are also
not  available  inside  the  Amigas of
many sceners, AGA is the standard, and
its  not  possible  to  develop  it by
software.   Besides - the AGA chipset,
ceaselessly criticized by Amiga users,
is  not  so  bad,  and  it can display
24-bit   graphics   sufficiently  good
(jpg's  &  png's in low resolution and
ofcourse  24-bit  iff's  - perfect for
scene  gfx).   What  about  the music?
Well,  Paula's  four  channels are not
impressive    any    more   :).    But
programmers   have  developed  them  -
bigger   quantities  of  channels  are
mixed  on  those  four channels by the
processor,  so it's possible to listen
to and to compose multichannel modules
on  your  Amiga.  Martin Blom's AHI is
now the standard.  The great tracker -
DIGI   Booster   Pro   by  Tomasz  and
Waldemar Piasta - makes use of it.  So
each  diskmag  should  run on machines
with  this equipment:  about 4 MB RAM,
AGA   chipset,   680x0  card  and  AHI
installed.     Logical?     Not    for
everybody.

CL0:The  Eurochart,  which for a long time
has  been  the  most  popular diskmag,
discriminates   those  musicians,  who
resign  the  old  Protracker  for  the
incomparably  better  DBPro.  Why do I
think   so?    That's   simple  -  the
magazine don't support AHI.  Why?  The
most  logical  explanation  will be my
own  sentence from this article:  "the
magazine  should  open on the computer
of each scener".  But the real scener,
not  common  lamer.  AHI will not work
on  020 (well, maybe if mixing rate is
around 5 kHz?...  :), on 030 I suppose
that using a few channels is the upper
border  of normal quality.  But on 040
everything   works   fine!    If   the
musician  want to compose a 32-channel
module with 16-bit samples and DSP, he
should  know that 060 will be minimum.
But  it's possible to evade this - not
many   sceners   possess  sound  cards
(including  me  unfortunately), so you
can  convert  the  samples  into 8-bit
quality  instead.   You  will not feel
the difference on Paula.

CL1:Can  someone  seriously  interested in
the Amiga-scene have only 030?  Never!
Firstly  -  we  should not treat those
people  seriously,  secondly  -  for a
long  time,  demos  have not been made
for that specification (they will run,
but you know what will happen), so why
make  a diskmag for it?  But maybe the
Eurochart Staff thinks that if someone
can't  watch the demo, he can at least
read    about    it?     Silly   talk.
Personally   I  own  a  68040/40  with
co-processor, and I can't say that I'm
very proud of this.  I think that this
is  an  absolute minimum, and slowly I
must  start  looking for a job to earn
some money for something better :).

CL0:I feel discriminated.  I don't like to
write modules in Protracker and I will
not  do this.  But then again - why do
I  join  those I criticize?  I've sent
one  4chn module to the Eurochart, but
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this   is   a   little   remix  of  my
ten-channel DBM, and converting it was
boring  and tiresome.  The Eurochart -
through lack of AHI support - isolates
itself  from some quantity of support.
Magazines can be initiators of changes
in  the  scene  - a smaller demand for
four-channel,   a  smaller  number  of
Protracker  modules.   That would then
mean  a bigger quantity of DBPro tunes
(well, at least I hope so).  But it is
not  difficult  to  see that there are
less  four-channel modules.  Just take
a  look  at the diskmags (not only the
Eurochart)  -  these  are old modules!
What's  up?   Lack  of  4chn  modules?
Just support AHI!

CL1:Look   at   Polish   magazines.   They
support  the  AHI  package  for a long
time.   Therefore  it  was possible to
listen  to  the  great  "Living In The
Past" by JazzCat in Taboo #2, "Looking
For Changes" by Maxym in Taboo #3, and
"Cos o czym sie nie mowi" by Grogon in
Taboo  #4.   In  the  last  two years,
there has been no impressive module in
a  diskmag  relased outside of Poland.
Tunes  were  just  O.K.  Not really an
enthusiastic approval for musicians.

CL0:I  don't say that multichannel modules
will   raise  the  standard  of  music
published in the Eurochart right away.
But  firstly:  chances will be bigger;
secondly:    The  Eurochart  can  then
receive  more  music  support.  And at
last,   thirdly:    it   will   be  an
opportunity   for   each  musician  to
present  his music as he himself wants
it.   I  think that's the point, isn't
it?   If  the  possibility to open the
mag on 020 and 030 is so important for
the  Eurochart  staff  (I think that's
absurd), they should do something with
a  magazine  prefs  file or something,
where each user can set AHI support to
ON/OFF.  For those "AHI OFF 'sceners'"
the   EC   Staff   can   put   in  one
four-channel tune, while the rest will
be   played   by   AHI.   This  is  my
proposal.  And my request.  The choice
is yours.

CL6:PS:   I  invite  to  polemics somebody
from EC Staff.
