Imperium Arts, The

Imperium Arts, The (TIA)
GER&gt; Gaston (Sebastian Thiel, music, also in Elysium, 07/92-08/93), PRI (Volker Meitz, music, also in Oxyron, new 12/92-02/94), Tragic Error (Ringo Reuter, music, also in Comic Pirates, 07/92- 08/93), The Syndrom (Matthias Hartung, music, also in Crest, 02/92-02/94). HUN&gt; Brian (Balasz Farkas, code music, also in Graffity, 04-08/93). SWE&gt; SMC (Sanke Michael Choe, music, also in Pretzel Logic, 04/93-    02/94).

TIA was originally a demo group, but converted to a musiclabel in 1992, with only double members from other groups. Their leader is the german The Syndrom, and originally the entire group was German. They have later taken in foreign members, but their base remains in Germany. T.Error's full handle is Tragic Error, and Pri's full handle is Panorama Inc. 1992 - In February the group coorganized the 2nd Boss Copy-Party in Dresden, Germany with Mad Bytes. After the Brutal copy party at the end of june, TIA came back with the releases of their second Music Collection [07/92] and their final demo "Survive!" in july. Accompanying these two productions were several notes with dramatic news about the group's future. The decision had been made to transform the group from a demogroup to a musiclabel - which meant the kicking of all non-musicians from the group! This meant members like Donald (ger gfx, 02/92) and Hagbart (ger swap, 02/92) had to start looking for new groups, and that Flash Turtle (ger swap 02/92) decided to leave the scene altogether. All three remaining members were forced to join 2nd groups to stay active. Main organizer The Syndrom joined Sunrise, T.Error stays in Ninjutsu Design and Gaston is still looking for a new group. By the time of their next release, the "Zakplayer 3" [09/92] (new name for their music collections), The Syndrom had changed from Sunrise to Padua and Gaston had found his second home in Elysium. It also featured a logo from their old member Donald, now in Lower Level. A final version saw the light of day before the end of the year; "Zakplayer 3.1" [12/92] was released at The Party, and announced their new member Pri from Oxyron, bringing the total amount of members to four. 1993 - In the four months before the release of "Zakplayer 3.2" [04/93], two new members joined the group. First they were joined by SMC (also in Pretzel Logic) and then by the author of DMC himself, Brian (also in Graffity). The Zakplayer itself was also developing into a pretty good allround soundplayer, and was quickly becoming the number one priority for the group. The Syndrom changed the entire outfit for the next version, and released "Zakplayer 4.0" [05/93] at The Computer Crossroads 93 in Sweden, again with a massive amount of tunes. Another version, "Zakplayer 4.1" [08/93] was released in august.

Dresden '92 (1992, 15.02, Multiload Demo). review: This is a collection of demoparts contributed from several groups at the Boss Copy-Party 2, organized and bookended by TIA. I Will list the credits for all the individual parts below: PART1 - The Imperium Arts. code: The Syndrom, gfx: Donald, The Syndrom (charset), music: The Syndrom. PART2 - Ninjutsu Design. code: J.B.T., gfx: Jens Maigel, music: T. Error. PART3 - Creators "Four Months Creators". code: Romulus, gfx: Franco, music: "Molecular Cafe" by Bleed Into One. PART4 - Fanatic (FTC). code: MKS, gfx: Steve (logos), TRL-Design (chars), music: Danko? PART5 - Lower Level "Mother Earth". code: Pumpkin, gfx: n/a, music: n/a. PART6 - Lower Level "We Are Childish". code: Pumpkin, gfx: Greyrat, Pumpkin, music: Jeroen Tel. PART7 - The Imperium Arts "End". code/gfx/music: The Symptom. [glenn]

Music Collection (1992, 09.03, Multiload Music). code/gfx/music: The Syndrom. review: Simple as it is, I like this. It's the music, I guess - pretty good overall. It's just a plain text selector for 16 tunes from The Syndrom, but hell - it's just got some charm :) This can perhaps be seen as the first version of Zakplayer. It comes with a note, done with  Facenoter by Cellux/Faces.    The tunes featured are "Werthers Echte" (Black Magic), "Hall of  Sounds" (TIA Spreaddisk 91), "Flying to Mexico" (One Year TIA), "Intro  Tune" (One Year TIA), "For Creatures" (Go Sixtyfour/Creatures), "Handel  In Wandel" (One Year TIA), "Wild Guitar" (Hell-Machine/Creatures),  "Creatures Again" (Hell-Machine/Creatures), "Cold Cold Days" (Hell- Machine/Creatures), "Power F.T. East" (Dresden '92 Party), "Shoes Are Crying" (A Contacts Note), "Rapsody In Black (Dresden '92 Party), "Get The  Groovie" (A Contacts Note), "Winter-Holidays" (new!), "Fading Away" (new!)  and "Overloaded" (new!). [glenn]

TIA Music Collection Part Two (1992, 20.07, Multifile Musicdisk). code: The Syndrom, gfx: none, music: The Syndrom, Gaston. review: The design is spartan, as with the first edition, but this is another cool collection of the tunes from The Syndrom, with a couple from Gaston thrown in for good measure. I especially enjoyed Syndrom's "Turrican Mix", exclusive to this collection. I can't help it, I like this =) Perhaps first released at the Brutal Party at the end of june, but not spread until the date at the top here. The tunes featured this time are  "For Script" (Clique's "Script #13"), "Dreaming..." (Creature's "Power of  Lard"), "Double Power" (Creature's "Power of Lord"), "For Love of Arts" (a LOA production), "The Sleeper" (TIA's "Survive"), "The Other One" (a contacts note), "Jump-Jump Away" (Survive), "Magic Sphere" (survive), "The Strangers" (survive), "Without A Name" (survive), "Turrican Mix" (new!),  "Saturday Night" (survive), "Wild Guitar 2" (a contact note) and "Savage  Remix" (new!) from The Syndrom, as well as "Feel The Bass" and "Night In  June" by Gaston, both from the "Survive" demo. There is also a note for  the music collection, done with Facenoter and with music by Drax/Vibrants.    The disk also contains several other things. First of all is The  Syndrom's music competition entry from the Brutal Party, which finally  didn'make it after all, but which is a real gem of a music piece, just  awesome! Dig it! =) Then there are two important notes, "Transforming" and "Contacts Note" both of which explain the changes in TIA, outlined in the timeline above. "Transforming" has music by Gaston, while "Contacts Note" has music by T.Error. [glenn]

Survive! (1992, 20.07, Multifile Demo). code: The Syndrom, gfx: Donald, The Syndrom, music: The Syndrom, Gaston. review: Sadly, "Survive!" was the final demo produced by TIA. I say sadly, because some parts of this one are actually quite good! The two musicians working on this delivers some good tunes, and Donald does some above average, original logos. After a rather fun, original opening where different pieces of text are called from an unix-like command line interface - quite like the intro for D-Tect's amiga diskmag "Hack-Mag #6" =) - the demo starts proper. This demo does not really need you to press any keys to continue through its parts, once something is finished the  demo moves on on its own. The music is also faded down, to make the  transition from part to part more fluent. This is good thinking, and  certainly a result of the influence from amiga trackmos which were very  popular around this time. The best part is the one with the 'plasma' (more like sinus rastersplits) effect, but the overall impression of the whole demo is above average. Some ok design saves the day, so to speak =) It's  nice to see democoders that dares to use other background colors than black... For a listing of the music from this demo, see the review of the "TIA Music Collection Part Two" above. The note that accompanies this demo may not be immediately obvious, since from the directory listing it looks like a file that belongs to the demo... But just load it and you will see! =) It's entirely done by The Synrom, code/gfx/music... The same notes that were present on the Music  Collection Part Two disk are also present here. [glenn]

Zakplayer 3 (1992, 04.09, Multifile Musicdisk). code: The Syndrom, gfx: Donald/Lower Level (logo), music: The Syndrom, Gaston, T.Error. Released at the Energy and Cosmos Design party. review: The third edition of the TIA Music Collection has a new name, a new outfit, and for the first time musical contributions from all three members! The new code for the player is a real improvement, tons better than the old one, and now means that it is possible to load any $1000/ $1003 music into it! The music here is of varying quality, but the best tune is The Syndrom's "A Brutal Party", which you can find more about in the review of the last edition =) It ROCKS!! The tunes featured here, in  full, are: Funday (gaston), Summerday (gaston), Three Men (t.error), Uncle  Tom (t.error), Hardrunner (syndrom), Bribed Tune (syndrom), Lt.Straider  (t.error), Daydreaming (t.error), Sweet Success (t.error), Weird Weekend  (t.error), Ode To Gaston (t.error), Voice O.T.L.D. (syndrom), Loss or  Damage (t.error), Wanda's Groove (t.error), A Brutal Party (syndrom),  Background Tune (syndrom), Mounty's Escape (t.error), Country's Child  (syndrom) and finally Update Mainmenue (syndrom). A note comes with the  production, done in Facenoter, with nothing much interesting to say =) The disk is also filled with notes of various kinds, among others announcing two upcoming german parties; Padua party in november, and Recall and TIA party 12-13 december. I'm waiting with these two until I know if they were ever really held... Also a really stupid snake game (suicide solution) is included. [glenn]

Zakplayer 3.1 (1992, 28.12, Multifile Musicdisk). code/gfx: The Syndrom, music: The Syndrom, Pri, T.Error, Gaston. Released at The Party 92. review: The code is exactly the same as last time, just the logo has changed for this intermediate release. Syndrom does promise some bugfixes before the next release. The group had also gained a fourth member since the last release; Pri had joined from Oxyron. Nothing much more to tell you really, except list the tunes: Aars'92 (pri), Atlantis (syndrom), Lightning (syndrom), For Oxyron (gaston), The Speech (syndrom), French Kiss (t.error), Funky Groove (gaston), Just So Poor (syndrom), Wasted Bytes (syndrom), Hitmen-Intro (syndrom), December-Mix (syndrom), No Compromise (pri), Can't Touch It (syndrom), Come Down To Me (syndrom), Peace'n Harmony (syndrom), The Real Pravda (t.error) and Bytes of Silence (syndrom). The disk also had some other small party releases on it, like Success' "Raw Guys - The Preview" (demopreview) and Ninjutsu Designs' "Fields of Hades" (gamepreview). Also a contact note from The Syndrom was on the disk. [glenn]

Zakplayer 3.2 (1993, 25.04, Multifile Musicdisk). code: The Syndrom, gfx: Calypso/Topaz Beerline/Amnesia, music: The Syndrom, Gaston, T.Error, Pri, Brian, SMC. Released at the Data-Live Conference 93. review: With this release, for the first time the zakplayer started filling a real function as an all-purpose sound player. It now recognized more formats, and started becoming a tool rather than a music disk, really. The group had also gotten two new and productive members since the last release, and the amount of tunes in this edition was really quite staggering. This was highly likely the first real release in a while from TIA, and announces the two new members Brian/Graffity and SMC/Pretzel Logic. A new logo, the best one yet, was drawn by Calypso/Topaz. A couple of tunes were reprised from the last edition, though; T.Error's "French Kiss" and The Syndrom's "Peace'n Harmony" =)    The tunes featured this time were: Dazed (smc), Trifle (pri), X-Large  (t.error), Fallacy (brian), Polysix (smc), Poly 800 (smc), Soulfood (smc),  Trashcan (brian), Headsave (brian), Lazy Guy (brian), Cowardice (brian),  Soundwave (pri), Amiga-Zak (brian), Conanious (syndrom), Dreamland (pri),  Poly 800-2 (smc), Notejingle (smc), Black Pipe (syndrom), Game-Intro  (brian), Talkin' Blue (smc), French Kiss (t.error), Metropolitan (brian),  Lucky Strike (smc), Library Devil (syndrom), The Lost Hero (syndrom),  Sweet Lullaby (t.error), Magic Mountain (gaston), Watermelon Man (pri),  Peace'n Harmony (syndrom), Fear of Destiny (t.error) and Vibrants 4 Ever  (brian).    Just one additional thing on the disk; a contact note written in The  Syndrom's brand-new noter, the TIA Noter V1.0 =) It featured music by  Brian. [glenn]

Zakplayer 4.0 (1993, 30.05, Multifile Musicdisk). code: The Syndrom, gfx: Cybortech/Graffity (logo), music: SMC, Brian, T.Error, Pri, The Syndrom. Released at The Computer Crossroads 93. review: Version 4.0 was quite a shocking departure from the original really, featuring as it does a brand new design. Unfortunately far from as appealing as earlier incarnations, this looks more like a cross between a  c64 music editor and Phenomena's "Music Dream" musicdisks on the amiga! The top of the screen features a keyboard where the different keys light up as tones are played, while the rest of the screen is just stats and information. The accompanying note mentions that the player now recognizes DMC 2-5, HT-Composer V1, Laxity 2+3, Jeff 8.0-9.1+ and JCH V13-V20. I seem to remember earlier editions recognizing some tunes (SMC's I believe) as composed with the 'compotech routine', where did this go? Strange... Anyway, the player itself just keeps getting better I suppose, even though I do miss the old design... Music in the note (done in TIA-Noter V1.0 naturally) has music by Jeff/Camelot. All the music on the disk marked Gem'z are from a game of the same name that unfortunately was never finished... but at least now we get the music! =) No tunes from Gaston this time, but he is still a member.    The tunes featured this time are: Chaos (smc), Crapsong (brian),  Abstrack (brian), Sinapesm (t.error), Introwave (pri), Nightwalk  (t.error), Accordion (brian), Eastender (smc), Jazz Fan! (brian),  Varjegyptic (brian), Game Intro (syndrom), Game Finale (syndrom), Do The  Note (pri), Trashtechno (pri), Gem'z Intro (syndrom), Rick Astley (brian),  Short Fusion (pri), Sunshine Song (t.error), Sweet and Sour (pri),  Ingame+Jingles (syndrom), Bouncing Heart (syndrom), Gem'z Music 01  (syndrom), Gem'z Music 02 (syndrom), Gem'z Music 03 (syndrom), Gem'z Music  04 (syndrom), Ultimate Intro (pri), Demand Delusion (t.error), Gem'z Title  Tune (syndrom), Soho (smc), Ingame (brian), Duster (brian) and Game Title  (brian). [glenn]

Zakplayer 4.1 (1993, .08, Multifile Musicdisk). code: The Syndrom, gfx: none, music: Brian, SMC, The Syndrom, Pri. review: Nothing has changed with the exterior of the zakplayer, though some things are going on under the hood. This version mainly features a lot of bugfixes from earlier, and now supports the following music formats: DMC 2.0/3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 5.1, Laxity V2 and V3, Hardtrack V1.0, Jeff V8, V9.0, V9.1 and V9.2, and JCH's Newplayer V13.G0 - V20.G4 (not including special versions). This info is given in the very attractive note the comes with the musicdisk, done in a noter by Romulus/Creatures. If features a VERY cool TIA logo by DOG/GPC and music by Drax/Vibrants and Crest. There are no tunes from either Gaston or T.Error this time. The tunes this time are: Hoopla (brian), Shorty (smc), Acieed (brian), Raining (syndrom), Dancing (syndrom), Hoppsasa (syndrom), Fly Free (pri), Headache (syndrom), Introzak (syndrom), Funkyman (brian), Yupdedup (pri), Funny One (syndrom), Happy Day (pri), Mediadance (syndrom), Mixedstyle (brian), Billigware (syndrom), Doublefunk (brian), Cafe Bohem (SMC), Modulation (pri), For Jamaica (pri), Injury Time (syndrom), The Session (smc), The Big Bang (syndrom), The Guardian (smc), Bronx Vanilla (pri), Classic-Touch (syndrom), Reincarnation (pri), Astral Hammer (syndrom), Short &amp; Sweet (pri), Blaze of Glory (syndrom), The Last Battle (syndrom), Flushing Trouble (syndrom), Ready To Takeoff (syndrom), Above The Clouds (pri), Mad in the House (syndrom), Zappzarapp (syndrom) and Alrite! (pri). [glenn]

Zakplayer 4.2 (Multifile Musicdisk). code/gfx: The Syndrom, music: Brian, T.Error, The Syndrom, Pri, SMC. review: Another release of the Zakplayer, and this time even the outfit has been given a small facelift in the form of a TIA logo. There have been some changes in the code too, so that it now allows upto 4-speed tunes in the DMC format, and includes support for the new DMC 6.0. This is all explained in a note, done in the same editor as last time, but this time with a ZAKPLAYER logo done by Biz Kid/Oxyron and music by Metal/Camelot and Vibrants. This time there are tunes from all members except Gaston. My favorite this time: "Close To Music" by The Syndrom, though also Pri came up with some good tunes this time. No release date anywhere =(   The tunes are: Bach (brian), Warm Up (t.error), Insider (syndrom),  L0vaxed (brian), Onionjam (brian), For Padua (brian), Smellydog (brian),  Labyrinth (pri), Multirock (pri), The Final (pri), The Akron (smc), No  Grammy (pri), The Future (syndrom), Coma Chase (pri), Unafterous (pri),  Pool Party (pri), Majestic V2 (pri), Athana Disc (syndrom), Going Round  (pri), In The Mood (smc), Greensleve (brian), Funky Stuff (pri), Death  Metal (pri), Inspiration (syndrom), Quattrodance (syndrom), Bass On Fire  (syndrom), Sadly Fading (pri), Trip Le Music (syndrom), Frozen Energy  (syndrom), Close To Music (syndrom), Cave of Echos (pri), The Timp-Groove  (syndrom), Torture 3 Intro (syndrom), I Hate Techkkkno! (syndrom),  Pickupthepieces! (pri), Move 2 Da Rhythm (pri), Kuzak The Hitman (smc),  Spirit-Intro (syndrom), and Torture 3 V2 (syndrom). [glenn]

Zakplayer 4.3 (Multifile Musicdisk). code/gfx: The Syndrom, music: The Syndrom, Pri, Gaston, SMC. review: Again no sign of a release date, but perhaps it's worth the effort to guess at leate 93 or early 94? If anyone can help with this it'd be most appreciated! This version is starting to make references to TIA's DMC 6.0, meaning it was probably released before this. Nothing has changed since the last time, really, so there's not much to report about this. The Syndrom is now using his own noter again, this time with Biz Kid's ZAKPLAYER logo from last time and music by Johannes Bjerregaard. The tunes are: Cm.Menu (syndrom), Promised (syndrom), The Ride (pri), Cm.Intro (gaston), Dumpbass (syndrom), Goodview (smc), Room 107 (smc), Polonaese (syndrom), Cm.Finish (syndrom), Cm.Hiscore (gaston), Experiment (syndrom), Garbage-tv (syndrom), Funeral '54 (syndrom), Ravin' Mika (pri), Blue Notes! (pri), Cosmic Style (syndrom), Blow of Fate (pri), Cm.In Game 1 (syndrom), Cm.In Game 2 (syndrom), Cm.In Game 3 (gaston), Cm.In Game 4 (syndrom), Cm.In Game 5 (gaston), Anita's Visit (smc), Black Or White (syndrom, michael jackson cover!), Hallucinations (smc), 7129 Easton E9 (smc), Life In General (smc), Show Must Go On (pri, queen cover!), Miss Rubberbutt (smc), Slap Chill-Out (pri), Careless Whisper (pri, george michael cover!), Dig The Honeypot (smc), Dreams O' Part 1 (pri), Dreams O'  Part 2 (pri), Pooh (smc), and Pussycat (smc). [glenn]