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?

Somewhere in the beginning of the eighties. I was magically attracted by the
early home computer machines, they really excited me somehow. What you could
make with them, how they looked like, their novelty.

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

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. With this beautiful little machine I
had my first basic lessons in how a computer (ie programming a computer)
actually works. I then already wrote programs with no other reason than
experimenting with visual effects; simple animation and so on. The true demo
spirit from the very beginnings. :) The next machine was a Commodore C-16,
which was followed by a Plus/4. On them I learned crude assembler hacking.
A common exercise was cracking games which were only sold on tape so that I
could load them from disk much more comfortably. There was no real "scene"
I participated in at this time, though, only some friends with similar
interest. Then came the beloved Amiga, model 500. This machine I used a lot
for playing - not so much with games, but with the possibilities of this
computer. Deluxe Paint, Soundtracker and Reflections were programs that
fascinated me. This was the time I entered the scene. I later also had to
make the AGA-move and bought an Amiga 1200. Brilliance, Turbokarte... And
five years ago (from today) came the first PC, which is still the one I am
using now - at least one of the harddisks and the case. Additionally I
collected some classic home computers on flea markets and so on, for example
some C-64s in various builds (also one SX-64), some Ataris (800 XL, 260 ST,
Mega ST, two old VCS), a Schneider (Amstrad) CPC 464, even an Amiga 1000 is
among them. But I rarely use these, mainly because of too little space to
keep them set up permanently.

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

I never only made music. It was always one of my creative interests. I also
had some years of piano training, but was very bored to play from notes. The
first experiences however I had with a computer at home was, as mentioned,
programming. I still wrote some basic assembler routines on Amiga, but coding
turned out to be very tedious for me, I lost the passion for it. Obviously my
main interest and my best skills were and are in the graphic area, especially
3D (this is also the area in which I work professionally). But for music I
never lost the passion. Making music, whether just jamming around or seriously
composing, is a part of my life somehow.

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

The first one must be some program on the C-16 (the ZX81 was a mute computer),
which was called Music Studio I think. It started to get interesting with
Soundtracker on the Amiga, later Protracker. Then I was one of the beta
testers for this amiga tracker written from one of my Lego-mates, "Art of
Noise" (later called "Chorus") by Twice. I also very often used MED and later
OctaMED, to incorporate my MIDI-Hardware. On PC I used Fasttracker, today
I use Buzz. I also tried Cubase a bit, but I don't feel at home in this kind of
programs. Although for certain styles of music they are obviously tailored
better, so I always plan to get into them.

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

The few which were officially released into the scene I am quite satisfied
with. In my ears they express what I wanted them to express. I still like
Spring Air, the module from "the real 40K"-intro which was Lego's first
production. Chiptunes are an art by itself, the most extreme dogma of
restrictions, and with very unique aesthetics. What annoyed me with Spring Air
only always was that it gets cut off just a few seconds too early in the
intro. Another well-known module from me is the soundtrack for Artwork's
"Megademo IV 2", which is rather a surreal noise collage than music. Some
people seem to hate it because of its strangeness, but this is one more reason
for me to be proud of it. :) With this one, the goal was reached for sure.

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

Well, at least I don't remember a tune which I don't want to remember, so if
I ever wanted to forget one for any reason, it succeeded. :) Of course there
are many tunes I am not satisfied with, but either they are unfinished anyway
(most of them all) or not to be taken too seriously. Some old ones may contain
embarassing elements to my standards of today, but I rather laugh about it or
get nostalgic (or both) than trying to forget.

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

Apart from music discs in the demo world and games like "Parappa the Rapper"
or "Space Channel No. 5" music is never the nutritive ingredient, but one
very, if not the most important spice. The greatest demos couldn't be the
greatest without their music and the way the music fits to the demo. With
games it's very similar. It's very obvious on titles like "Wipe Out" or
"Resident Evil", their coolness relies on the background music in the first
place. Music, used in the right way, tremendously helps getting the dramaturgy
right.

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

For leisure purposes. I never really stopped playing with music.

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

Of course it's not the same as with xm or mod files. The great thing with the
later was - besides their very small size, far smaller than mp3 even - their
open source nature. It's very interesting and teaching to analyze the way
other composers work. Some heavy p2p-mp3-swappers say, the only things they
miss sometimes are the booklets that come with the original CDs. In a similar
way I sometimes miss to read messages written in the instrument's names of
modules... :)

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

Hmm... Well, I have a very broad taste. There are many demo tunes I liked.
But some of them just got stuck in my memory. The soundtrack for the psylo
remix of CNCD's "Deep" was quite cool (from Yolk and Legend), the whole demo
actually. Moby's work for Sanity's "Arte" was amazing, but in this case again:
the whole demo was outstanding. The opus Audiomonster created for Silents'
"Ice" I always found interesting, with this strange tango part and everything,
it's a classic. Ah yes, and "Total Triple Trouble" from Static/Rebels. This
one influenced me definitively. Jesper Kyd, too. He has a very unique style.
In the "Global Trash"-mod there is this famous hihat moment. And everything I
know from Strobo/Stellar or Diablo/Budbrain I remember finding nice. And Romeo
Knight and Heatbeat and... There is so much great stuff out there, let alone
the material from collectives like da jormas, schleudertrauma, elke, mono 211,
which I also enjoy listening to occasionally.

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

I don't think the material I released in the scene is famous enough to earn a
dedicated "best of"-CD. But for some of my fellows I will put together one
more CD for sure sooner or later. I already did this once on request by a
friend, but the content was way too experimental and far out to be of interest
for a bigger audience, I suspect. On the other hand, this smashy-trashy punk
hymn I once composed for Lego also was on it ("Every Item Fits", sounds a bit
like "Mina Omistan"). But this was not a module but played with real
instruments.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

At this very moment I don't listen to music, to be honest. And usually...
hard to answer. It is pretty mixed. Much drum'n'bass in the last time. Beastie
Boys, Bjork, FSOL, Chemical Brothers... Also Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Shirley
Bassey, James Brown, Lalo Schifrin, Lenny Kravitz, Jamiroquai... All kinds of
music, actually. Ah, Madonna. She made great stuff with William Orbit. Old
Pop (Pet Shop Boys...). Movie Soundtracks. And lots of unknown stuff, by
friends partly. Concerning current "radio music" the group which caught my
interest the most must be Royksopp. But actually (writing this in January 2003)
this already isn't too current, right? I have to regret, for a couple of years
I stopped listening to radio, looking MTV frequently and reading music
magazines, because I got disgusted by this heavy-rotation-spirit and all this
demonstrated stupidity ("Jackass" just sealed this decision). All I get to
know about what's going on in the music biz I get through the massive
mp3-collection of my brother (Morpheus, Kazaa etc. user). But this is just
music, without the marketing, the ads, even without covers to browse. It's
funny how different the choice of music can be without these distracting
factors.

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

It's just a great creative underground scene. Like a big family. Visiting a
demo party, for example, gives this mellow assuredness that you will feel
right at home there, are about to enter a place with a crowd of people just
as crazy as you, with the same interests and one common passion: home computers
and how to show off on them! I often imagine it as like the early fresh hip hop
scene with the MCs, the DJs, the writers, the breakers and so on, only still
healthy and not that commercialized (luckily demos are not so easy to
commercialize, after all). It's also a social vibe. Well, other people meet to
show each other their insanely tuned automobiles or whatever. The demo scene in
comparison is great for its instant weirdness. It's just not possible to
reasonably explain it to an unknowing person within one sentence. This,
however, is also said about Harley-Davidson-bikism... :)

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

The last scene earthquake I am responsible for must be the founding of
Elitegroup, which was actually a joke but then spawned some really nice
productions. But I wasn't involved in the handiwork of any of them. Then,
of course, I was one of the organizers of the Mekka/Symposium from the
beginnings, in the departments of screen design (earlier parties), beam
team and t-shirt design. However, after the death of MS this year I decided
not to participate in organizing the Breakpoint party but to attend as a
visitor this time. I am curious how a party organized from these old fellows
will feel "from the other side".

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

More greetings to the SCALA posse, the Mekka/Symposium orgas and all the
other scenemates of past, present and future. And a begging message to Oskari
Tammelin: either continue developing Buzz or stop bitching around with Buzz
rights and let it be open source, pleeeeeez! Carthago, however, may remain
intact.

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