Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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TLb. ,dMP' all rite, now you get the chance to read

TML.dMMP some facts about some of the major amiga

,nmm`XXMPX musicians. read about their history in

,#MP'~~XNXYNXTb. the scene and their plans in future.yes,

,d~' dNNP `YNTb. that's meant to be read while listening to

,~ ,NN' `YNb their modules. read 'em over and over and over..

dNP `Yb.

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Handle:

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Group:

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Date of birth:

1-How did your interest for computers start? Which year was that?

In first grade, my father showed me a digital thermometer he was working
on, and I displayed so much enthusiam (proof that techno-geekery is
genetic) he started teaching me how to solder and work with logic gates.
That was in 1980. We didn't get a "real" computer until summer '86.

2-What machines did you previously have? What did you do with them?

The first computer my family owned was a Mac. It had the Motorolla
68000 in it, and was basically just for homework. I didn't learn to
program assembly for it until '94, when it was called the "Mac Classic".
It was a hideous monocrome tiny thing. Came with a paperclip to remove
disks. Then there was the 8088 with "all the memory I'd ever need",
or 640K, whichever was less. Still, it was the first viable games
platform had besides the Atari 2600. Even then the IBM blew Atari away.
No sound card though. My first soundblaster came with my 386DX 33 MHz.
Bought in '92 for more money than I care to remeber, this is the machine
of firsts: First ID FPS release (Wolfenstein, then Doom), first real
graphics editors, engineering homework, and of course, the first Swampfox
MODs. Yep, didn't even have stereo sound when I start writing them. No
problem, though... My friend Brent Cook had an Amiga upstairs to do the final
stereo evaluation. And that was my introduction to the Amiga 'scene'.
The MODs were so much better in stereo, so I bought the SB PRO as soon
as it came out. Since then, there have been huge upgrades in the
technology, and I've roughly followed them along. But the greatest
portion of my MODs were written using either that old 386, or the
pentium 90 I replaced it with back in '95. By then I was doing POVray
ray traces and the ilk as well, and enjoying 16 bit stereo sound. thee
old P-90 is still being used as a gateway today, serving as a firewall
for my PII-300, PII-450, and P4-2G.

3-For what specific reason did you end up making music rather than gfx, coding?

To be honest, I dabble in the other two as well. But I taught myself to
play piano at age 4, and music has always been a big part of my life.
Writing MODs was always just about having fun, and it just felt natural.
A lot of people dumped (and still do, though not as loudly) on computer
music as being too linear, but I saw it differently. Because of computers,
ANYTHING could now be an instrument in the digital world. I was hooked.

4-Which composing programs have you been using? Which one in particular?

I get the feeling that this interview is MOD-centric, so I'll talk about
MODED 2.0 for the IBM. All my 4-track mods were made using this sequencer, and
it was really easy to use and very primitive. It was almost like coding. It
wasn't until protrakker came out that I started doing 8-track MODs. Protrakker
was similar, but besides 8 tracks (SO MUCH SPACE!!) it had better file handling,
and even a keyboard interface so you could "play" your tracks. All in all, a
typical MOD from beginning to end took me about four hours to tweak and publish
using protrakker. To be honest, by the time that came out, I was so used to note-b
y-note I rarely used the keyboard "piano". Recently I've been dealing in MIDI and
MP3, using Cakewalk.

5-With which module did you feel you had reached your goal?

"Squirreled Away" is one of my favorite MODs because I had written the
tune when I was six or so. I always WANTED to make it a MOD, but there
was no way I'd stuff it into 4 trax. I held onto it forever, and
finally protrakker came out. My favorite 4 trakker was "Sped Through
the Head", if only because it was a request from a great friend and
supporter Eric Leach. He always treated me as if I was some sort of
local celebrity, and posted all my stuff on his BBS in Bangor, Maine.
All these stories and more on on my website, if you enjoy that sort
of thing... #:^)

6-Is there a tune you would like not to remember? For what reason?

"35th Time Around" just lacked something. Even listening to it now, I
get annoyed by the repetitive nature of the claves. Just feels like it
never gets started. There might be redeeming features, because other
people like it... but I just can't get past the feeling that this is the
kind of "computer music" people gripe about!! #:^s

7-In your opinion, what's the value of a music in a demo, game?

Music is pivotal in any media presentation, making or breaking movies,
demos, games, even commercial spots!! Think of Star Wars without John
Williams, or even the game X-wing vs Tiefighter, for that matter.
My favorite game music of all time had to be from StarControl 2. I
still have the MODs from that classic. Now THERE were a bunch of guys
who knew how to create the whole package: Music, graphics, and
gameplay!! Have you ever watched a movie and started to feel the hairs
stand out on your neck for no particular reason? Next time, close your
eyes and LISTEN. That's music manipulating you to the very core.

8-At present, are you still composing? For professional or leisure purposes?

I dabble mainly in MIDI at this point. MIDI is terrible from the
perspective that you never know what the stuff will sound like at its
destination, but I find the sequencers to be superior. Plus, I can use
a REAL keyboard to play tracks. With the advent of MP3, there's nothing
stopping me from getting my "sound" out and about. Except time. I'm a
system engineer in a telecomms firm, and it doesn't leave much space for
home-studio work in my schedule.

9-What do you think of today's pieces of music such as mpeg,wave,midi,etc...?

MP3s sound like JPGs look. At a black/white boundary, the JPG will have
jitter. MPEGs have the same result at a sharp dynamic. However, a 129K
JPG is almost as good as a 2.4M TGA, so we learn to deal with it for the
sake of bandwidth. Such is the way with MP3s, and sometimes if I
concentrate real hard I can almost convince myself I don't care that a
crisp orchestra hit just echoed into the space left behind... That
being said, MP3 is the best way to get "armchair" or "garage" sounds out
into the industry. Linkin Park is just one success story using the MP3
channel. There will be many, many more like that soon.

10-Could you tell us some of your all times favourite tunes?

It's kind of a wierd mix, but I love the following in no particular
order:
Hall of the Mountain King - Grieg
Suck my Kiss - Chilli Peppers
Mercury Falling - Sting
Shout - Tears for Fears
The Simpsons - Danny Elfman
Anything by John Williams
Cult of Personality - Living colour
Aenima - tool
Pass the Peas - James Brown
Frayed Edge of Sanity - Metallica
Oh, there's just to many, forget it. #:^)

From the amiga scene:

Anything by U4ia
Beyond - captain/image
All the MODs from Starcon 2
And a billion others. In all, 231 MODs have made the journey from my
original 386 to the p4 I'm writing this from. They have all influenced
immeasurably. That's the deal with music. It effects you in the most
interesting and unpredictable ways.

11-Are you planning to make an audio cd with some of your music remastered?

Yes. Actually, Chris Hodgdon has re-mastered a couple Swampfox CDs
already: "Chris Straw as Swampfox" and "Swampfox: What The Hell" both
have many four and eight-track mods which were pretty popular. I
have produced "Swampfox: Nowhere Nearby", which is a collection of more
recent MIDI tunes. I'm working on an anthology of my orchestral MIDI,
and an actual CD with lyrics and some "real" instruments is also in the
works. As they aren't "published" per se, anyone can just drop me an
e-mail or visit the web site for more info as it becomes available.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

As far as "active" bands go, I've been listening to Tool, Incubus,
Guano Apes, Sting, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Avril Levigne, and
probably a few hundred others I'm completely spacing on at the moment.

13-What does/did the amiga/c64 scene give you?

My brush with the Amiga scene was brief and peripheral in my mind.
However, it did give me a great outlet for my music. At times, when the
paperwork piles threaten to topple over and pin me to my desk, I have
wondered what things may have happened if I had embraced the MOD
community and made the music my life. I have always envied those that
did just that, and I still learn from them.

14-Are you still active in the scene these days?

Sadly, no... My MOD collection is almost a museum piece. I could stick
a little white card under it which read "Early computer music scene:
1990 - 1994". I think that's why I keep it that way though. It's a
monument to what the music industry should be: A free sharing of ideas,
sounds, and feeling. -END SERMON-

15-Anyone to greet? Anything left to say? Feel free...

Besides aknowledging the other members of the Nexus of Nonfunction
(Chris Burton and Jason Lavoie), Eric Leach, Chris Hodgdon, Brent Cook,
and all the people who have encouraged my creativity through the years,
I'd just like to say "Hi" to all the people who have enjoyed my music.
Thanks for listening, and drop me some "E".

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2003 by crown of cryptoburners
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