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TW #80 — #trax Mass Interview (Zinc)

summary #traxweekly #interview #scene #theory #hornet #necros
author Zinc; fall, CarterUSM, Sirrus, Raphael, c_ray_c, Ganja Man, sublime, balrog, Ms. Saigon, doomsday, behemoth, human and others
date 1996-12-11
article #80 Faces in the Crowd 7. #trax Mass Interview (Zinc)
source file raw/traxweekly/TRAXWEEK.080
created 2026-08-30 · updated 2026-08-30

zinc interviewed "every non-idler in #trax at once", collecting answers by private message so nobody saw the others'. Mostly banter; a few questions produce usable scene data.

Key claims#

  • Respondents: fall (Terje Stoeback, 16, Maniax, Norway), CarterUSM (Chris Pottroff, 19, Green Grapes, St. Louis), Sirrus (Immortal, Maryland), Raphael (Mark Faulk, 21, DiGiTaLuS, NC), Ganja Man (Sam Bashton, 16, LoK, East London), sublime (Matt Friedly, 16, Martyr/Thought, Olympia), balrog (Ultrabeat) and others.
  • Hornet ratings: suggestions to rate by style category first "cause … two different songs might be great in their genre, but you can't rate them against each other" (Raphael), to have designated raters per style (Sirrus), at least two reviewers per tune plus a public vote (CarterUSM), and to make reviewers use decent headphones (sublime). See hornet.
  • Music theory — the recurring #trax question, answered by a dozen people: useful "if you want to compose traditional western stuff" (c_ray_c); "it's a tool, just like a 303" (balrog); "something to form a basis from, not to follow specifically" (CarterUSM); Sirrus: not required to write good music, but it saves time and improves harmony and musicality; several wish they had it.
  • Synth wish lists (December 1996): Roland XP-50, Korg Prophecy (also Zinc's), Korg X5 / a Juno, Korg Trinity, Kurzweil K2500, Nord Lead — a snapshot of what trackers sampled from.
  • "Who's the best tracker?" — necros (three votes), Nemesis, Keith303, Hades, Cygnes; sublime: "the very very best tracker is impulse-tracker, because it's got the most options".
  • "What's Necros' real name?" — fall: "Andy Sega"; beek: "Dan Gardopeee (wait that's Basehead)".
  • Basehead is the channel's idler-in-chief; joke proposals for compo prizes include "a year's supply of IT bugfixes" (fall).

Relevance#

A cross-section of #trax opinion at the end of 1996 on ratings, theory and gear; confirms Necros's name and standing.

Pages touched#

zinc, necros, basehead, hornet, impulse-tracker, diatonic-chords.

source file wiki/summaries/s-tw080-trax-mass-interview.md · graph