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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\___P___/ .\--\__ __/__ |--\____)---\ _____/__ |--\_ \ _/

| | | \ | | \__| | _ \ / | \__| | /\ |

| _| | | _l_ | | \ / _l_ | ___|

l___/=l___|====l____/===\______|==l______|\ /l___/===\______l____/

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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?

I was still a kid when I first got interested in computers. It started
with the ZX80 which was sold apart and I had to build it up. Later came
the ZX81.

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

So I got a ZX80, an Apple IIe, a commodore PET, a Thomson MO5 then a TO7,
a Commodore Vic20, an Amiga 500 and finally an Amiga 2000. I have always
been using these machines for programming but got into composing with the
Amiga.

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

As a matter of fact I am mainly a coder. As I have been playing instruments for
quite a long it was fairly logical to end up composing with a computer. I had
the chance to use my first amiga very early in time (1986).

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

On amiga I used them all, even the most exotic ones! I also used a bit
Octamed but I have been a loyal fan of Protracker.

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

None of them! I have had my first digitizer pretty late in time and the
tracker limitations forced me to work hard on getting where I wanted.
Creating music was more like programming than composing. I have always
has a lot of respect for people that manage to compose quality tunes with
a tracker.

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

Many of them. I have never really be satisfied with anything I have composed
as I found it really difficult to get the instruments in harmony with each
others, etc... And as I did not have a digitizer I could only use the existing
samples (st-xx).

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

Music has a capital role to play withing a game or a demo. Same goes with movies.
It reinforces the visual aspects, creates an atmosphear and contributes to get
people inside the game, demo or film.

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

Yes I am still composing but in a band. We are using computers to add samples
over our real instruments. We have traded our old school trackers for actual
softwares such as Cakewalk Sonar, Cubase SX with eternal sound cards with
automation.

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

I don't really have an opinion.

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

Spectrum / Billy Cobham, still as impressing more than 30 years after !

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

Oobs, not at all! I am for the protection of sensitive ears. ;)

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

I am listening to a huge variety of music styles: Classical, Trash Metal...
I am quite fond of Jazz Fusion and a real fan of Maceo Parker. You want
names ? All right, let's mention them as they come to my memory : Prodigy,
Prokofiev, Jeff Berlin, Tony MacAlpine, Slayer, Chick Corea, Alicia Keys,
etc... etc... etc...

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

Many, many sleepless nights ! :)
I have learned to do assembler coding, make multimedia creations and also
not to take myself too seriously. In my opinion demomakers were far too proud
of temselves. That's among the reasons why we created the group TmGm. It was
meant to be a humorous, funny group and not anything like what other groups
tried to be. We never tried to have impressive routines by example. I must say
that most demomakers were 5 or 10 years younger than me, they were most
probably facing their teenage crisis! :)

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

I left the scene in 1995, after the Saturne Party in France. Amiga's glory was
starting to fade away. I was a bit fed up and I did not have much free time
for all the demo/music work.

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

I am often overwhelmed with emotion when I think about my amiga period. We
were real nuts of that machine, we only slept few hours at night so that we
would be back with it as fast as possible. There was somekind of an euphoria
when it came to the Amiga computer. It made it possible for me to meet a lot
of people, some of which I have been working with on some multimedia or
musical productions.

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2005 by crown of cryptoburners
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