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.

,NN' `b. · i n t e r v i e w · ___________

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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?

When my Brother was born, my dad decided to buy me a
ZX81. That must have been in 1983 or so.

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

Around 1983 i got a ZX81 and started to program some basic. No
inventions, just straight from the book. In 1987 i got a C=128 on which
i programmed a lot in basic and started coding in assembler. Mostly
tools for ripping crazy stuff, like colour patterns or simple wave
generators. I also started cracking after i got my action replay mkIV,
since it enabled me to freeze programs and save the full memory state
without losing a byte. So i had the chance to copy what i found out from
other cracks like partially crunching, deprotection, removal of
uneccessary loaders and stuff. To be honest, we bought our originals
from stores and cracked them just for fun, so i believe we had no under

3-week releases, but we had releases among our friends. We also did alot

of swapping.
In 1990 or so, i switched to the amiga. That was because i saw this demo.
The Sin Intro II by Thrust.
That *totally* attracted my attention, because i understood that
everything i saw on the screen could actually be done by coding the
right thing. I believe that was also the moment when i began to
understand why i wanted to be a musician. It was a magic moment. We did
not crack but still exsisted as =ICE= in the Amiga. We did a lot of
composing and punk-like anti modernist stuff. Like inmidst of the trend
against the trend. There was very much swapping with also a few famous
people. I still got that contact book. Good times.
I continued making music on the amiga, and i once had a live act
with my amiga in a small club and had no idea about styles. I was used
to switch styles. Then i switched from tech-house to gabba, inmidst the
set. Brutal lerning curve. I killed my own audience.... One of the best
moments ever was when i met my friend The Black Lion from Belgium at one
of the last Commodore-available CeBit Shows in Hannover. That was very
friendly.
I think it was 1997 when i finally stopped all Amiga activity.

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

I think for me music is more easy to create. It is just that kind of
creativity i know best. On the other hand, my job is totally in gfx,
since i am in pre-press and coding, well, others do it very much better
than i do, so... I trust in them.

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

Starting with simple DATA lines in basic, then ROMUZAK (one of the few
programs i bought - dont ask me why) on the C64. On the Amiga Protracker
until 3.5something, i believe, Oktalyzer (incredible distortion effect
through the mixing routine - this is NON-replicable!), OctaMED (still on
the MED list, these days). And on the PC i tried CubaseVST (which i knew
from my pal´s ATARI, but it really sucks), OctaMED PC, and finally, i use
Renoise, wich i really love for it´s VST functionality.

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

I had no goal. Thats a post-mortem question. I have made some tunes
after my scene time which were important for my friends and for my
personal development, but since i was scene-wise so "unimportant", well,
i had no goal at all. I also believed, no one had to have one. Once you
reached your goal you know: thats where others will be, soon.

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

I did not care too much about political stuff. And i wrote really stupid
stuff into some comments of some tunes. For anyone who feels offended by
that: omg. plz excuse. (Although it includes non-excusables). Well. Yeh
there are songs that i dont want to name that i like to forget. "We were
young...".

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

Just turn the sound off, while you enjoy a demo, game or - a movie.
Something essential would be missing.

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

I am working on some tunes, occasionally. But nothing of interest.

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

Todays Formats are just containers for streamed audio encoded in various
codecs. You know what? The music before the digital music era of the
late 90s was cool because the possiblities were limited. Unlimited
possibilities also mean : unlimited bullshit. Quote me for free if you
like. MP3 killed the audio tape for example. I am not sure if i one day
will miss 100-times-played-tape-sound-wearoff. The wearoff sometimes is
really something that i miss. I mean every time i play a mp3, the song
sounds unheard. Sux. Somehow.

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

C64 wise: Walkers Warbles, Bionic Commando Subtune 5/10, Krakout All
Subtunes, Solomons Key Subtune 1/4, Hunters Moon Subtune 2/4, Legend of
Kage, Dexion Ranking, Ninja (Rob Hubbard), OMAHD and ofcoz Sanxion.
Amiga wise: Chaos Engine Sountrack, Castle Master, Speedball2, SWIV,
Flashback, Lost Patrol
Game Boy: Super Mario Land, Kirby´s Pinball Land
Playstation: Spyro The Dragon (All work by Stewart Copeland)
PC: American McGee´s Alice

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

I have about 500 amiga tracks. These are my creative basis for far away
times when i perhaps start to get blind on my creative eye-ear-hand.
Count that as a yes.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Currently i still roll up what i sort of missed during my teenage days.
I try to collect mp3s of tunes i heard at techno-raves or tunes i always
wanted to have. Mostly old-school stuff. I love listening to my own
tracks, since i really find they are honest on the one hand
and totally detached from any value on the other hand. I enjoy various
kinds of electronic music. But i also listen to classical music (Johann
Sebastian Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Scarlatti),
contemporary serious electronic music (Stockhausen. Lately i have
develloped a huge interest in original acid-techno recordings and was
able to get one of the limited Atlantikwall #1 Boxes. I hear a lot of stuff.

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

I am happy not to having wasted my time on something ridiculous. Being
part of the scene has given me the opportunity to learn a lot of
cultural and artistical things and combine this with active learning.
All of us who have taken part in the scene are gifted with an unique
mixture of futurism, science and culture. I think this was a one time
chance in mankinds history. The last resort before the internet came.
Don´t get me wrong, i totally love the internet. If it just was more
exclusive, know what i mean?

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

I have suspended all scene-related activities in 1997.

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

It is unbelievable how much the internet changed the attention for the
works of us computerpeople and sceners. It is like our teenage days dreams
became the theme of mankinds future. I think it is up to us, the "heavy
users" to make sure, that greedy and power-hungry corporations and
governments don´t ruin the internet for everybody. And yes, we can do
something: we can vote, we can organize and state our opinion and ethics.

And we can make sure that this voice will be very loud.

Thank you guys for your interest!

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please note: this interview was kindly sent by Judge via email on 2012-04-22

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