Farbrausch, or Farb-rausch, is a German group of
demomakers.
Group
The group became well known in the
demoscene
The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off computer programmi ...
in December 2000 with a
64k intro called "fr-08: .the .product". The demo achieved its small size through the use of
procedural textures, a custom MIDI-based
software synthesizer
A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the same t ...
V2 (controlled through a sequencer called
Logic Audio), and a modified version of
UPX executable compressor, ".the .product" is an 11-minute
3-D show featuring complex scenes of
computer generated imagery.
The name "Farbrausch" translates literally to "color rush", where rush means variously "intoxication, drunkenness, high, ecstasy, and state of euphoria." This serves as a core theme across the otherwise multifaceted topics in Farbrausch demos, which cover futuristic or abstract technology,
dystopian cityscapes and even
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
.
Their work has won numerous awards. In 2004, a subdivision of farbrausch called ".theprodukkt" released a 96 kB first-person shooter game named ''
.kkrieger'', and an earlier version of the tool they currently use to produce some of their demos, named ".werkkzeug", or "Tool".
Farbrausch give their releases a "product code", in the format "fr-0#". The numbers do not specify the order of release — the members have stated that they allocate the numbers as they start working on the project, not when they finish it. Non-serious releases receive
negative numbers.
The group has periodically released improved compositions such as "fr-019: Poem to a Horse", "fr-030: Candytron" or "fr-025: The.Popular.Demo". ''The.Popular.Demo'' and ''debris.'' are among the most highly favored demos on the demoscene index, Pouet. The.Popular.Demo also received the "Public Choice Award" from the 2003
scene.org awards, and ''debris.'' won the 2007 scene.org award for best direction.
In 2009, Farbrausch released ''
.detuned'', an interactive demo for the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
, again under the name .theprodukkt.
In 2012 Farbrausch released the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
of many of their demo tools on
GitHub
GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...
.
fr_public
on github.com
Notable demo releases and awards
References
External links
Farbrausch main website
All Farbrausch demos
on pouet.net
Farbrausch tool source code (with executables for .werkkzeug4)
Farbrausch .werkkzeug1 demotool
A Windows executable for the Farbrausch .werkkzeug3 demotool
* : Features an interview with DOJ of farbrausch who explains the history of "Elitegroup" and of Farbrausch. (MP3 audio)
An Interview with the Farbrausch Group (video, in German)
Making of .the .product
{{Authority control
Demogroups