Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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`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.

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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?

1983 I think was the year. It was love at first sight :-) I went to a friend
of mine. He wasn't there, but he had a little white box (Laser 8bit home
computer) connected to his TV drawing rectangles in 8 shades of grey. Later
he showed me the small BASIC program that made it possible. And that was it.
I got hooked permamentaly until today. :-)

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

Amstrad 464/6128 were my first. Then I moved to the PC, where I had almost
everything between a 8086 and a Pentium 3 (never had a 286 :-P). Most of
them were sold, given or thrown away. Few of them just died in my hands. I
still have a 6128 around for old times sake :-)

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

Actually, my job title is 'programmer' I have always coded for my job but
never for the scene. This happened probably because I didn't meet the right
people at the right time. Anyway, another friend of mine once showed me a
tracker on his Amiga (I think it was called SoundTracker). And that was
another love at first site :-) That was also the closest I have ever been
to actually buying an Amiga.

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

I have used all sorts of trackers and samplers on the PC. I have never used
a sequencer. This includes early versions of modplay for DOS, where you
could only change the samples in a module, modedit for DOS, a sorry excuse
for a mod editor which could only be compared with edlin :-) Afterwards,
better tools became available, Fast Tracker was a huge evolution. I then
tried Scream Tracker 3 but moved away soon because I could not bear the
fact that all effects were mixed up and it crashed alot. I found my home
in Fast Tracker 2, which remains until now the best tracker (imho) for the
PC. Now, I am having trouble running FT2 on Windows so I am trying out
modplug tracker and madtracker. It's hard, though, Fast Tracker 2 still
is so much better...

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

I am several light years before 'reaching my goal', I think :-) Every module
I make is better than the previous one and as time passes I find more stuff
that I think should be better in my older modules... :-)

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

Actually, there are *alot* of them :-) Mostly because now I know things that
I didn't in the past and I wish I did back then. But I don't take it too
hard, after all, I am into this thing for the fun of it, not to compete or
make money :-)

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

Music in a game or a demo is very important. At least that's what I think. It
is equally important as everything else (code and gfx). The same way graphics
or code can make or break a production, music can have the very same effect.
A good production has got to succeed in all areas, if one is neglected, you
end up with a bitter taste of deficiency.

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

I can say that I am still composing, but at a much slower pace than I used
to when I was younger. You know how it is, you get a job and several zillion
things to do, tracking needs a certain mood and inspiration, so it is really
much harder for me than it used to be. The lack of a really good tracker on
the PC is _not helping_ things either. I have not quit entirely though :-)
I have always composed for fun, never professionaly. I don't think I want
to do the latter, because usually, when it starts being professional, it
stops being fun, and that's something I don't want to experience.

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

I was never a fan of midi. Fixed instrument set and dependance on hardware /
sample pack is not my kind of fun. Still, midi evolved alot since the adlib
days and it is actually listenable now :-) I doubt that I will ever get
involved in midi composition. Wave files are prefered by people that record
things that they play live. I am not such a person. I compose stuff on a
tracker to get the best of both worlds (midi+wave) and I intend to stay
that way. Compression methods (mp3, vorbis etc) are a good way to squeeze
raw sound into a production. For the demoscene though, I am still strong
for tracked music. You can do pretty much anything you want, you can
synchronize it like hell and can still save alot of disk space. I know I
sound too oldskoolish but that's how I feel.

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

There are so many tunes I love...
'2nd Reality main theme', 'a touch of spring', 'world of plastic', 'fishtro'
(purple Motion/FC, actually I love almost everything from him)
'Deep in her eyes', 'Ice Frontier' (skaven/FC)
'Desert Dream' (laxity/kefrens) first and second part
'banana split' and 'allnite groove' (dizzy/CNCD)
'das product theme' (kb/farbraush)
'you am i', 'television', 'caero' (dune, another composer I just worship)
most of the 'jesus on es' modules
all 'crystal dreams 2' modules
'guitar sliger' (jogeir liljedahl)
and many many others I can't remember right now...

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

Not really. Who would ever want to listen to that crap? :-P Seriously now,
I consider myself a purely electronic composer. I make things for fun, for
using in demos and for distributing freely on the web. I don't see any
serious purpose in making audio cds, commercial or not.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

I listen to dance stuff mostly, like progressive trance, some techno, very
little house. I get my kicks with 90's hardcore / gabba / breakbeat. I also
like other stuff, like ambient music and electronic in general. Sometimes I
even listen to jazz, funk and rock. If I were to say some of my picks, those
would be Astral Projection, Art of trance, Future sound of London, Aphex
Twin, The Prodigy, Depeche Mode, Cure, Tears for fears, even ABBA. All in
all, my head is a mess! :-)

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

I never had anything to do with the c64 scene or the machine itself. On the
contrary, I got influenced by the chip music I heard on my Amstrad machines.
I can say I almost grew up with it and I still like it. The Amiga was a
different story, though. It was the first machine I ever saw to play
sampled sounds with so much ease and it instantly gave me the drive to
create music myself. Suddenly, everything was much easier and better! Also,
the first demos I ever saw were on an Amiga. I never owned an Amiga myself,
but without its stimulation, I may have had missed being part of the scene
entirely. And for that fact alone, I respect it alot.

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

I hang around www.pouet.net quite frequently, getting in touch with people,
downloading and watching as many demos as I can. I am trying to compose
stuff when I have time and / or inspiration. My group, dEUS is also not
entirely dead, and we even hope to make a new production soon.

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

I would like to greet practicaly everyone who is active these days, I am
grateful that the scene is still alive and kicking after all these years.
Also, I would like to say to wannabe musicians out there, that making music
is great. Never quit guys! It's a little hard at the beginning but it fills
your soul afterwards. Keep on tracking!

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