Welcome to Amiga Music Preservation - Forum. Please log in or sign up.
Count Floyd 
Handle: Count Floyd
Real Name: Markus Klinge
Lived in: Germany
Ex.Handles: Countfloyd, TCA, The Commodore Ace
Was a member of: The Shadows (SDS), The Special Brothers (TSB)

Modules: 12  online
Interview: Read!
Pictures: n/a

Interview


                           .                  
          `n.          .rP'
           `qb       ,dP'
            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.  
            ,NN'          `b.      · i  n  t  e  r  v  i  e  w  ·      ___________            
      ______dP                                _____________            \         /              
      \    ,N'\____   _____________.  _____   \            \_____.  ____\       /
       \___P___/  .\--\__    __/__ |--\____)---\        _____/__ |--\_   \    _/
        |     |   | \  |      | \__|   |  _     \      /    | \__|   |   /\   |
        |    _|   |    |     _l_       |  |      \    /    _l_       |     ___|
        l___/=l___|====l____/===\______|==l______|\  /l___/===\______l____/
                                                   \/


    Handle: Count Floyd

    Group: ex TSB, ex Shadows

    Date of birth: 14th January, 1971


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

  • My interest started when the gaming console I had as a kid (Mattel
    Intellivision) bored me and some friends of mine got their first computers
    (TI-99 and C64 mostly). I saw that there's more to electronic entertainment
    than just playing games and so it all started. This must have been in the early
    80's I would guess 1982/83.


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

  • Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500, Intel 486, Amd Athlon.

    I started doing 'serious' stuff on the C64. I never really was into playing
    that much but even at that time enjoyed listening to music in games/demos. So
    after teaching myself how to 'rip' music out of games and being introduced to
    the scene in general, I started coding lame intros noone has ever seen probably
    except for me (I never gave them away). I tried to do music on the C64, but the
    pieces were really bad and at that time I wasn't really mastering the SID.

    With the appearance of the Amiga and Karsten Obarskis Soundtracker, I finally
    started to compose for real (real meaning I wanted to do music that other
    people might like too, not that my songs actually were any good). I still
    remember listening to the first ST-01 songs like Crystal Hammer or Blueberry,
    ah those were the times ! Also I always shifted between programming and making
    music which gave me the advantage not having to rely on asking another guy to
    put my music into a demo ;)

    Over the time I got less interested in making music and nowadays I'm rarely
    touching any music editor at all. Most of my time goes into programming.


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

  • As I wrote above I actually do code. Back in the old days 1 guy could do a demo
    on his own so I also did some GFX. But my attempts at doing Graphics are best
    decribed as 'programmers art'. My reasons for making music were always the same:
    to relax, fleeing from everydays sorrows or just because I thought I could do a
    better version of a certain tune.


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

  • C64: Soundmonitor, Rockmonitor, SIDMon

    Amiga: All of the Sound/Noise/Star/Protrackers, SIDMon, Future-Composer,Sonic
    Arranger

    PC: It/Scream/Fasttracker, Buzz, Orchestrator, Cakewalk

    Most of my time I spend composing in Protracker on the Amiga. Today I would
    prefer using Cakewalk or Buzz.


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

  • None so far. What's the goal anyway ? I feel that I technically got quite good
    in tracking but never really achieved an own style. I also was lacking creativity
    when it came to refining solos and had a hard time evolving the main theme.


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

  • Actually most of them. Just because they sound (and are) so basic compared to
    todays music and techniques.


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

  • Music is definitely more important in a demo because it's passive entertainment
    and you're probably listening more closely. However I'm very extreme when it
    comes to music and games. If there's a game with stunning graphics and amazing
    story but the music is bad or doesn't fit I wouldn't enjoy playing it. I
    personally rate music higher than graphics because it affects my mood more than
    graphics could ever do.


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

  • No, I'm rarely composing nowadays and definitely not for profit. As I told above
    my career shifted towards coding instead which doesn't leave me much time to
    do anything else. Some years ago I did some MIDI Renditions of old C64 Tunes I
    loved and they are still around somewhere on the internet. I also experimented
    a bit with PC Trackers but nothing really worth to mention.


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

  • They are just different data formats so I don't exactly get your question (what
    about OGG btw. ?).

    If you meant to ask about my opinion concerning todays music the answer is I'm
    unsure. The easy access to music and composing tools certainly creates the
    feeling that there is a bigger diversity and more music to choose from. However
    I personally think that this also causes a huge shitload of crap to be released.
    Just have a look at the charts nowadays and compare them to earlier times.
    Today most (if not all) of the new songs just sound so similar to me, it's very
    boring. Everytime the record industry and media notice a new youth trend they
    are pushing it so much in the hopes to get money back from the losses of MP3
    Trading it's just not funny. Anyway if you disagree just call me a nostalgic
    old fart then ;)

    It's exciting to see though that game soundtracks finally try to reach movie
    soundtrack quality.


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

  • Uh oh there are so many of them it's probably unfair to pick certain ones only.
    Instead I'll tell you my favourite composers from different platforms:

    C64:

    Rob Hubbard (although he ripped lots of melodies from classic and electronic
    tunes)
    Martin Galway (still in Love with Parallax)
    Tim Follin (most varied and crazy songs I know)
    Ben Daglish (could still have a good time watching the Trap Demo)
    Fred Gray/Jeroen Tel

    (fairly standard, huh?)

    Amiga:

  • 4-Mat
  • Moby (especially for bringing guitar riffs to the tracking scene)
    Nuke (Acid Jazz just rules!)
    Bruno
    Codex
    Pseudolukian

    (I definitely missed some, it's just so long ago)

    PC:

    Jeroen Tel
    Hunz
    Drax
    Pink


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

  • I might be sadistic sometimes but not that much, no I won't ever produce a cd.
    However I'm planning to redo and record some of my Midi Tunes. I just need some
    time and a better gear.


  • 12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

  • This isn't easily answered because it changes constantly. I like listening to
    all sorts of music from Electronic to HipHop (however I strongly dislike groups
    like Korn or Limb Bizkit).

    Some artists often seen in my playlist:

    Chemical Brothers
    Red Hot Chilli Peppers
    Warren G
    Massive Attack
    Snoop Dogg
    Cake
    Depeche Mode
    Prodigy
    Apollo440
    Propellerheads

    I also like listening to game soundtracks a lot and my SID Tune Collection is
    in good shape.


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

  • Back then:
    Lots of good and bad memories (mostly good), a wrecked social life, bad school
    marks due to staying up all nights, lots of computer experience and finally a
    job. All in all I don't regret a single thing and I somewhat feel that there
    was something special about the scene in the 80's and early 90's which can't
    be brought back. I was lucky that I was a part of it.


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

  • No, unfortunately not. I'm still a regular visitor on scene pages like pouet.net
    or Orange Juice and I still get a kick out of demos from Farbrausch or Haujobb
    to just name a few but my last scene release was a decade ago on the Amiga.
    I recently got into Gameboy Advance Programming which has this certain oldschool
    feeling to it. One of these days I might just surprise everybody and really
    release something again...


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

  • Yes thanks ! I would like to greet all of the guys from the old days of partying
    and TSB Tabletennis, some of them I haven't seen for about 12 years now...so
    here we go...

    Greetings to:
    Electrica + Alloc + Laserdance + Ivan + Schorse + Pseudolukian + Icecube +
    Dr. Dre + Eltronic + Stargazer + Fornax + Mike + Hotzi + Doc Ice + Trackers +
    all the ones I missed here, you're not forgotten ! Oh and I always wanted to
    write this into a greeting list -> Special Greetings to SCA - GCS - Indy -
    Jedi - Dynamic Duo and Radwar ! :D

    (if you got here you're probably really bored so greetings to you as well)


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2002 by crown of cryptoburners
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


who's online?


1 Guest, 0 Users

Processing Time: 0.0837 Secs