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5. SID Tune Information List (STIL) FAQ




                                 STIL v2.6 FAQ
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                            SID Tune Information List
                            ~   ~    ~           ~

                               STIL Administrator
                               ------------------
                           LaLa <LaLa@InterAccess.com>

                             HTML version of STIL by:
                             ------------------------
                      Laust Brock-Nannestad <laustbn@diku.dk>

                   The HTML version of the STIL is available at:
                      http://hafnium.prg.dtu.dk/~theis/stil/
                             (Constantly updated!)


                                  STIL Heroes
                                  ===========

The number in parentheses before a name is the number of STIL
additions/modifications submitted by that person.

If you would like to withhold your name or email address for security or
personal reasons, let me know ASAP!!! (Oops, too late. :)


(149) Petri Keränen <keebo@mbnet.fi> (aka "STIL SuperHero" :-)
************************************
( 53) Teppo Lehtonen <lehto@sci.fi>
( 27) Salmijarvi Janne <jhsa@cs.tut.fi>
( 25) King Fisher/Triad aka Linus Walleij <triad@df.lth.se>
( 23) Jacob Gunness <gunness@dorit.ihi.ku.dk>
( 23) MAD <mad@mipool.uni-jena.de>
( 20) Jeremy Smith <jeremyasmith@geocities.com>
( 16) Jürgen Oppermann <juergen.oppermann@tcpip-gmbh.de>
( 11) Scott Jones <localh@hotmail.com>
( 11) Pasi Karppinen <karppinen.uddevalla@swipnet.se>
( 11) Miron Schmidt <miron@comports.com>
( 10) Daniel Adolfsson <sensei@whoever.com>

------ The rest below are STIL Hero Wannabes... ------

(  7) Aaron Solomon <solomon@spiretech.com>
(  6) Scott <dg3carrols@wombat.admin.bhtafe.edu.au>
(  4) Per Bolmstedt <tomten@koolex.net>
(  4) Joe Forster/STA <sta@ludens.elte.hu>
(  4) Oliver Hermanni <o_hermanni@hotmail.com> (aka Wintermute)
(  4) Evert-Jan Slypen <jazz@lobster.demon.nl>
(  3) Len Pitre <Email address is withheld by request>
(  2) Dominik Deobald <magician@sunshine.domino.de>
(  2) Ulf Harnhammar <Ulf.Harnhammar@abc.se>
(  1) Zoltan Bolla <bolla@mail.matav.hu>
(  1) Kai Spitzley <heechee@mindless.com>


                                  ABOUT STIL
                                  ==========

  The SID Tune Information List (STIL) contains information about the SID
tunes in the HVSC besides the standard TITLE, AUTHOR, and COPYRIGHT
information. STIL goes a little deeper listing SID tune information that only a
true SID freak would enjoy. Such information listed in STIL includes cover
information, interesting facts, useless trivia, comments on the tunes by the
composers themselves, etc. STIL is limited to factual data and does not try to
provide an encyclopedia about every original artist.

  Regardless of a cover or remix, proper credits are given to the *original*
composers. This means that even if a given tune was made popular by a different
person or band, STIL still contains information about the original composer(s),
whoever that might be.


Why was STIL created?
---------------------

  The High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC) Crew sincerely believes in creating
the most accurate and comprehensive SID collection possible. We also believe in
giving proper credit to all composers regardless if they ever composed on the
Commodore 64. How many times have you asked yourself, "Where have I heard this
tune before?!" STIL helps to ease some of those questions.

  STIL is also extremely valuable for the future of SID music collections.
Imagine years ahead when the HVSC maintainers are no longer available for input
for whatever reasons. Wouldn't it be a shame if someone began to alter the
credit fields of the tunes in HVSC based on incorrect data?

  Another feature of STIL is that it contains information and/or quotes about
certain tunes that the creators of the SID tunes provided themselves. We strive
to include such information in STIL whenever possible, which we believe
enhances the value of HVSC and gives a more historical sense to this great
archive. If you are a SID composer and your SID tunes are in HVSC and you wish
to provide comments on some of them, don't hesitate to contact any of us!

  And finally, perhaps someday a new SID tune file format will emerge allowing
relevant SID tune information to be available when the tune is played? If so,
STIL will be there to fill in the blanks.

  NOTE: Although initially STIL did list bugs that were present in certain
tunes within HVSC, the current HVSC administration team felt that it is better
to provide a separate list of them. Since the list's creation, more and more
bugged SIDs got fixed. If you think you can help (either listing bugs or
providing bugfixed SID files), please refer to BUGlist.txt in the DOCUMENTS
directory of HVSC.  However, if a SID sounds bugged and the original released
game or demo that the SID was extracted from was also bugged (for example:
/Ouwehand_Reyn/Last_Ninja_3.sid subtune #3), STIL in this case would notify you
of this as technically it is not a bug caused by a bad rip.


We need your help!
------------------

  STIL is a living document about SID tunes, changing and growing with each
subsequent HVSC Update pack. We attempted to make it as accurate as possible,
but there can be mistakes and missing information here and there.

  If we have missed any information about the tunes in HVSC, of if you want to
provide correction to any of the information contained in STIL, please send an
email to the STIL Administrator (see email address on top). Please, read the
section below about the format of the STIL before sending any entries, though!

  If you are able to list information about 10 or more SID tunes in HVSC, you
will become a STIL Hero. This information would include any corrections,
additions, and filling in any blanks. All STIL Heroes' names will appear in
this file. Although it is *highly unlikely* that you will become a STIL Hero,
since we have already listed many of the covers and other such SID information.
(*NOTE* the previous sentence was my attempt at some basic psychology... Will
it work?)


                                THE FORMAT OF STIL
                                ==================

  If you do decide to email us STIL entries, please adhere to our standard so
that we can effortlessly paste your data into STIL. It is also important to
stick to the strict STIL format as the STIL is checked and processed by
programs (actually, Perl scripts), and also, some versions of SIDPlay now show
STIL entries (with the help of STIL View) when playing SID tunes. Since all of
these programs expect STIL and the STIL entries to be in a certain format,
*PLEASE*, follow the outlined standard of STIL entries if you ever decide to
send us new entries! This will make the life of the STIL Administrator easier,
because this way no entries will have to be manually processed.

  One exception to this rule is when you want send us corrections or
modifications to already existing entries. In these cases, it is enough to
send just the relevant part of the STIL entry containing the corrected or
modified fields, with enough info to uniquely identify the part of the STIL
entry that should get changed. For example, if the entry looks like this:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
(#1)
  TITLE: Title field
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
(#2)
  TITLE: Title field (0:05)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: Title field (1:05)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.

it is perfectly fine to send the STIL Administrator only this:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
(#1)
 ARTIST: The corrected artist field

Here (#1) uniquely identifies the ARTIST field that should get changed.
Another example:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
(#2)
  TITLE: Title field (1:05)
 ARTIST: The corrected artist field
COMMENT: The modified comment field.

Here the combination of (#2) and the (1:05) timestamp uniquely identifies the
fields that you think should get changed. In other words, it is no need to send
in the whole entry, just the relevant parts of it.

Thank you for your understanding of the above rules!


Here is a *complete* summary of the format of the STIL entries (see the LEGEND
following the format description for details about what things mean):


---- FOR SID FILES CONTAINING ONLY A SINGLE TUNE -----

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
{STIL block}


---- FOR SID FILES CONTAINING MORE THAN ONE TUNE -----

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
COMMENT: *Optional* file-global comment goes here.
(#1)
{STIL block}
(#2)
{STIL block}
(#3)
{STIL block}
.
.
.
etc.

Of course, STIL entries need to be provided only for those tunes that need it,
so the following is perfectly fine, too:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid
COMMENT: *Optional* file-global comment goes here.
(#8)
{STIL block}
(#11)
{STIL block}
(#15)
{STIL block}

However, the STIL blocks for the subtunes must be sorted by ascending order of
the tune numbers of the subtunes.


---- {STIL block} ----

The format of the {STIL block} is:

  TITLE: Title field
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.

OR for multiple covers in one tune:

COMMENT: *Optional* tune-global comment goes here.
  TITLE: Title field (TIMESTAMP)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: Title field (TIMESTAMP)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
.
.
.

Please, see the LEGEND below for what TIMESTAMP stands for!

All the fields in the {STIL block} are optional, except the path and the
filename, but at least one field must be present. Eg. if only a comment is
provided for a tune that has no subtunes, the following entry is perfectly
fine:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid.sid
COMMENT: This should be some relevant comment here.


---- {SID block} FOR TUNES THAT COVER ANOTHER C64 MUSIC'S SUBTUNE ----

  TITLE: <Title of Original C64 Tune>, Tune #y
 ARTIST: <Original Composer of the C64 Tune>

This means that the given tune covers the y-th subtune of the given C64 tune.
If the given C64 tune has only one subtune, "Tune #y" can be dropped.


LEGEND:
-------

Path_in_HVSC   - starting with a "/", subdirs separated by "/", given as long
                 pathnames (with correct small and capital letters)
Full_Title.sid - The long filename as it appears in the directory
#y             - Tune #y within the file
TIMESTAMP      - The time the given cover starts at (based on SIDPlay
                 timestamps!). It can be given in one of two formats:

                 (X:XX) - means that the cover starts at X:XX and ends at the
                          next TIMESTAMP found in the same entry, or at the
                          end of the tune (ie. when it starts looping).
                 (X:XX-Y:YY) - means that the cover starts at X:XX and ends at
                          Y:YY, regardless of whether there's another
                          TIMESTAMP in the entry or not.

                 You can mix the above two timestamp formats within an entry,
                 just keep in mind what they refer to.

Maybe an example would be useful here, since this sounds rather complicated,
even for me. :) So, here are some examples:

TIMESTAMP EXAMPLE #1:
---------------------

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid.sid
  TITLE: Title field (0:18)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: Title field (0:35)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.

The first cover starts at 0:18 and ends at 0:35, the second one starts at 0:35
and ends when the tune ends or when it starts looping (since there are no
other entries following it).

TIMESTAMP EXAMPLE #2:
---------------------

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid.sid
  TITLE: Title field (0:18-0:35)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: Title field (0:40-0:45)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.

The first cover starts at 0:18 and ends at 0:35, the second one starts at 0:40
and ends at 0:45. The "missing" 5 seconds between 0:35 and 0:40 is either an
original composition, or it is an unknown cover, and the same could be said
about whatever is after 0:45.

So, this is *WRONG* for the above entry:

/Path_in_HVSC/Full_Title.sid.sid
  TITLE: Title field (0:18)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: <?> (0:35)                 <=== THIS IS *WRONG* !
 ARTIST: <?>
  TITLE: Title field (0:40)
 ARTIST: Artist field
COMMENT: Comment field.
  TITLE: <?> (0:45)                 <=== THIS IS *WRONG* !
 ARTIST: <?>

This was the OLD way of doing things and resulted in a whole bunch of empty
entries (ie. entries that had only a TITLE and ARTIST field, and both
contained unknown info). Please, refrain yourself from submitting such
entries.


NOTES:
------

- Please note that there are TWO spaces before "TITLE", ONE space before
  "ARTIST", and NO space before "COMMENT". This just makes STIL more readable.

- The TITLE and ARTIST fields must be at most one line (79 characters) long
  (including the strings "TITLE" or "ARTIST" themselves)

- The COMMENT field has no restriction on length, but the lines in it should
  be no longer than 79 characters (together with the string "COMMENT: "
  itself), and additional lines should be indented so they line up with the
  first COMMENT line.

- Please, place a "<?>" behind (or in place of) every information that is
  doubtful (or missing)

- If a cover covers another C64 tune that is also a cover itself, please
  still submit the very *ORIGINAL* TITLE/ARTIST info for the STIL entry! You
  may provide a comment, though, that states that the given cover is really a
  cover of another cover. (Phew, did you follow that? ;) Here are some
  examples:

/VARIOUS/Scarlet/Mariah_Carey.sid
  TITLE: Without You
 ARTIST: Nilsson
COMMENT: This SID covers Mariah Carey's cover version.

/VARIOUS/Alien/Suspiria.sid
  TITLE: Suspiria
 ARTIST: Goblin
COMMENT: This SID covers Jogeir Liljedahl's MOD cover.

- Reports of bugs in SID files are handled separately in the BUGlist.txt file.
  Please, refer to that file for how to report them (the format is actually
  very similar to STIL's format). STIL lists bugs only if they were in the
  original C64 tunes, too.

If still in doubt, consult the STIL itself for examples. If *still* in doubt,
contact the STIL Administrator for help.


Thank You!
We hope you find STIL useful!


THE HVSC/STIL TEAM
==================

HOSTILE (High Official STIL Executioner) (= STIL Administrator ;)
----------------------------------------
LaLa <LaLa@InterAccess.com>

HTML version of STIL by:
------------------------
Laust Brock-Nannestad <laustbn@diku.dk>

HVSC Administrators:
-------------------
Warren Pilkington <wazzaw@globalnet.co.uk>
Jan Diabelez Arnt Harries <rambones@get2net.dk>

Main contributors:
------------------
Wilfred Bos <wbos@worldonline.nl>
Darren Hagan <darren@talent.demon.co.uk>
InGE HP <ingehp@online.no>
Kristoffer Johansson <d3johkri@dtek.chalmers.se>
Dennis Lindroos <deadman@penti.sit.fi>
Adam Lorentzon <d93-alo@nada.kth.se>
Gabriele Priarone <g.knight@iol.it>
Michael "The Mage" Schwendt <mage@online.de>
The Shark of International Network of Chaos <shark@dhp.com>
Andreas Varga <sid@skater.htu.tuwien.ac.at>


FUN STATS ABOUT STIL v2.6
=========================

Created with my FunStats Perl script. ;)

Top 15 Covered Artists:
-----------------------

<?> ....................................................................... 220
Rob Hubbard ............................................................... 102
Traditional ...............................................................  64
Jean Michel Jarre .........................................................  59
Jeroen Tel ................................................................  55
Martin Galway .............................................................  51
Johann Sebastian Bach .....................................................  38
Pet Shop Boys .............................................................  31
John Williams .............................................................  29
Depeche Mode ..............................................................  29
Harold Faltermeyer ........................................................  27
Jan Hammer ................................................................  25
Chris Hülsbeck ............................................................  21
Kraftwerk .................................................................  21
James Pierpont ............................................................  20

Top 15 Covered Tunes:
----------------------

<?> ....................................................................... 120
Axel F ....................................................................  25
Jingle Bells ..............................................................  20
The Star Spangled Banner (American National Anthem) .......................  18
Comic Bakery, Tune #1 .....................................................  14
James Bond Theme ..........................................................  14
Toccata from Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) .......................  14
Crockett's Theme ..........................................................  14
Blue Monday ...............................................................  14
Popcorn ...................................................................  12
Thalamusik ................................................................  11
Rule Britannia ............................................................  11
Airwolf Theme .............................................................  10
Katjusha ..................................................................   9
Crazy Comets, Tune #1 .....................................................   9
Orpheus in the Underworld Overture ........................................   9
Star Wars Theme ...........................................................   9

--- End of STIL FAQ ---


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