Hello everyone,

HVSC Update #31 is now available for you to download, and a
very nice update it is too, with no less than four music
competitions' tunes in it.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  There is a new version of the HVSC Update
Tool which you need to run on this update (and any subsequent
ones thereafter), or else you will find that the update will
not work.  Windows users should note as usual that the tool
is included inside the update zip file, for other OS users
you are advised to download the new tool from the
HVSC Players and Tools page:

http://www.hvsc.c64.org/Players_and_Tools/

After this update, the collection should contain 18,618 SID files.

This update features (all approximates):
      486 new SIDs
      116 fixed/better rips
        2 repeats/bad rips eliminated
      163 SID credit fixes

Main Artists Featured In This Update (new additions only):

DRAX                          Mad
Jörg Rosenstiel               ASL
Avalon                        Richard Bayliss
Blues Muz (Glenn Gallefoss)   Blues Muz (Kjell Nordbř)
CreaMD                        Cubehead
Djinn                         Fanta
H.M.Murdock                   Iron Cat
Sage                          Signor
László Simon (SLD, Roy)       Smalltown Boy
Top Secret                    Zagor
Zzap69

and many more...

----------------------------
What else is in this update?
----------------------------

* Lots of real C64/Sidplay2 fixes
* Competition entries from Floppy 2002
* Competition entries from Forever3
* Competition entries from Mekka Symposium 2002
* Competition entries from Sid-Wine online competition
* The music from the long-lost US version of Spindizzy
* Overhauls and corrections to Fanta and Top Secret's tunes
* Plenty of credit fixes along the way
* and much more...

---------------------------
What's to come next update?
---------------------------

The next update is an important one for the development in
HVSC.  After the positive results from the HVSC User Survey,
it has been decided that HVSC will adopt the revised SID file
format known as PSIDv2NG.  This will mean a one-off update to
convert the collection to the new format, which will just 
require use of the new update tools to achieve.  At the same
time HVSC will become version 5.0 in recognition of this change.

The HVSC Team would particularly like to thank Simon White and
Dag Lem, who have developed Sidplay2 and reSID emulation
respectively, but have also given their time into the new format
and in turn helping HVSC with the eventual conversion.  Their
work is much appreciated.

Also, the HVSC Team would like to thank those outside of
the current HVSC Team members who put in their time to ensure
that the new HVSC Update Tool worked on their OS.  Thanks for
this go to Michael Schwendt, Phill Wooller, Thomas Neumann,
Anders Eriksson and Anders Nordby.

----------------
HVSC User Survey
----------------

The HVSC User Survey officially ended on Sunday 17 March, and
there were over 350 people who very kindly took the time out
to read and fill out the survey.

Many thanks to you all for doing so, it is very much
appreciated.

The results are available for you to view and see how they
turned out. Do note that not everyone chose to answer every
question, so the percentages in all cases are the percentage
of users who answered.

To summarise briefly:

* HVSC will go to the new PSIDv2NG SID file format specification
* Sidplay2 is now the most popular SID emulator, with Sidplay1
  close behind 
* Three quarters of SID emulator users use a Windows operating
  system 
* The HVSC directory structure stays as it is 
* More than eight out of ten will move to Sidplay2 as it becomes
  available for their operating system 
* Rob Hubbard is the most popular C64 music composer 

Please feel free to digest the results, available here:

http://www.hvsc.c64.org/User_Survey/

--------------------
C64 HQ website opens
--------------------

A rather good C64 website opened its doors to the public this
week.  C64 HQnot only has the usual amount of games for 
you to download and enjoy, but there's also some pictures and
audio interviews with some famous C64 composers, including
some from when the site's creator, Andreas Wallstrom, went to
England to meet Ben Daglish.

There's also some text interviews with the composers, and lots
of worthwhile information to read, so do feel free to drop by
and take a look around.

http://www.c64hq.com/

---------------------------
PSIDEdit tool now available
---------------------------

Over to the tool's author, none other than LaLa, for the
full lowdown:

"PSIDedit v2.01 is now available.

PSIDedit is a Perl/Tk GUI script that is also available
as a standalone Win32 executable file. 

The basic purpose of PSIDedit is to allow people with
sufficient background to modify PSID header data inside
.sid files. However, PSIDedit is also an invaluable tool
for rippers to create fully PSID v2NG and HVSC-compliant .sid
files out of ripped tunes that are saved as C64 binaries on
your hard drive.

The documentation that comes with PSIDedit (also available
online) contains a short tutorial showing you how to create
a PSID v2NG .sid file from a raw rip. 

Note: PSIDedit won't help you rip tunes out of C64 games
and demos! It's for turning ripped C64 data files into
.sid files. While that may not sound much, all the bitfields
in the PSID v2NG specification make creating v2NG files a
bit harder, and this is where PSIDedit can help you - as
proven by the beta-testers who are all rippers themselves
and have praised PSIDedit as an easy-to-use, user-friendly
tool that saved them a lot of time."

You can also play your SIDs straight from PSIDedit as well
as long as you specify the SID player to play the SID with.
As a ripper myself, I can vouch for you how useful this tool
really is.  Feel free to snag it as soon as possible.

http://lala.c64.org/

-------------------
Searching for SIDs?
-------------------

One of the many responses that came up in the HVSC User Survey
was that it would be nice if the collection had a search
function offline.  One does already exist, and the HVSC Team
do recommend that you use it.  Vincent Voois' excellent
SIDBace tool allows you to generate your database of SID tunes
(normally HVSC) and then search all the fields (including the
STIL entries too!) for the relevant SIDs that match.  You
can also play the tune straight from SIDBace, once you configure
it to use your favoured SID emulator.

http://members.tripod.com/sidbace32/

Other users also stated that they would like to know which
tunes were used in which demos.  Although compiling a list 
would take too much time and effort, for the more popular demos
you may wish to consult Stephan Schmid's "C64 Demo Dungeon"
page which has popular demos and the SID tunes that feature!

http://demodungeon.c64.org/

--------------------------
Back In Time Live 3 Update
--------------------------

Back in Time Live 3, Gossips, Soho, 21st June 2002.
Not long to go, and with 230 or so places booked, and with
the club only holding 300, get there before everyone else
does!  Make sure you visit the site and click the "Wanna
Go" link.

Latest additions to the personalities coming include:

Michael Delaney (founder of Gameboy Audio.com)
Andrew Barnabas (well known Amiga musician)
The Shark (the original HVSC founder)
several members of the HVSC Team

And also there's now the virtual stall open, so you can
order the merchandise online and pick it up on the night,
saving you having to carry money around.

For all the info you need, including directions to the
club, where to stay etc please consult the official site:

http://www.backintimelive.com/


-----------------------------------------------
 YODELKING & UL-TOMTEN'S SID QUIZ #2 Results
-----------------------------------------------
Hi people,

It's been fun to see your intrest in solving this
second Sid Quiz, and it's been very much fun to read your
answers and especially your comments.  We would like to
thank you all for taking the time to compete.

And looking at the results, we can tell that there is
reason for us all to listen some more to even the most
classic SID tunes. But every tune in the quiz was found
by at least one person, so it seems everyone has their own
favourites.

Once again, the unbeatable Chiummo found the most tunes
with an outstanding point of 25 out of 27 tunes. We
congratulate him, and still think he deserves the respect
and admiration of other sid freaks. Also Fanta, Map and
Smalltown Boy are among the three best, and know their
sids for sure.

It was also fun to see so many C-64 composers compete
this time.

Here are the results:
==================================
1. CHIUMMO GAETANO               25/27
2. Alexander Rotzsch (Fanta) & Map  20
3. Michal Hoffman (Smalltown Boy)   14
4. Pex Tufvesson (Mahoney)           9
5. Ari Yliaho (Agemixer)             8
6. Stephan Schmid                    5
7. Jan Krolzig                       4
8. Stefano Tognon                    3
==================================

The correct answers are:
Tune 01 is: /Huelsbeck_Chris/Spherical.sid #1
Tune 02 is: /Daglish_Ben/William_Wobbler.sid
Tune 03 is: /Daglish_Ben/Bobby_Bearing.sid
Tune 04 is: /C64MUSIC/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Eagles.sid #2
Tune 05 is: /C64MUSIC/Tel_Jeroen/Noisy_Pillars.sid #3
Tune 06 is: /C64MUSIC/Rock/Future_Composer_Demo_Song1.sid
Tune 07 is: /C64MUSIC/Mad/Hotline.sid
            and /C64MUSIC/Mad/Scorpion.sid #1
Tune 08 is: /Lee_Steve/Falcon_Patrol_II.sid
Tune 09 is: /VARIOUS/S-Z/Trident/Pill-Box.sid
Tune 10 is: /Link/Take_Over.sid
Tune 11 is: /VARIOUS/G-L/Goto80/Snyft.sid
Tune 12 is: /VARIOUS/A-F/Agemixer/Patakakkonen.sid
Tune 13 is: /VARIOUS/S-Z/Shavitt_Guy/Sidchip_Music_Score_5.sid
Tune 14 is: /Huelsbeck_Chris/Hollywood_Poker_Pro.sid
Tune 15 is: /Danko_Tomas/Busstrafik.sid
Tune 16 is: /Brandt_Georg/Bob_Moran-Rittertum.sid #2
Tune 17 is: /VARIOUS/G-L/Krolzig_Jan/Monster_Time.sid
Tune 18 is: /Gehrmann_Holger/Top_Secret.sid
Tune 19 is: /Knatter/No_Sleep_II.sid
Tune 20 is: /Gehrmann_Holger/Graffiti_Man.sid
Tune 21 is: /VARIOUS/A-F/Devilock/Cyber_Intro.sid
Tune 22 is: /Daglish_Ben/H_A_T_E.sid #1
Tune 23 is: /Brimble_Allister/Spellbound_Dizzy.sid #1
Tune 24 is: /Clarke_Peter/Tai-Pan.sid #2
Tune 25 is: /DEMOS/Soundtracker_64.sid
Tune 26 is: /Galway_Martin/Rambo_First_Blood_Part_II.sid #10
Tune 27 is: /Whittaker_David/Lazy_Jones.sid #21

One of the nicest comments we got was this one:
"huh, i think the level was rather high but still we had
a lot of fun with it. thank you for some sleepless hours
and a lot of fishbrain music in our ears during the last
weeks, every day and every night, bastards! ;-))"

Best regards, Peter Sandén & Per Bolmstedt

------------------------
Commodore Format Archive
------------------------

Between 1990 and 1996 Commodore Format was an excellent
Commodore 64 magazine, with games, tips, hardware and
demos all featuring regularly along with some good
ex-Zzap! 64 staff writers writing for it etc.  And
now, like the Zzap! 64 archives, there is an archive
of its issues as well as interviews with people who
worked on the magazine.  Well worth a look:

http://www.commodoreformat.co.uk/

---------------------------------

Enjoy the new update, and please feel free to send some
feedback - we appreciate all responses.

Kind regards
Warren Pilkington.

  