Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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`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?

I got a C64 in birthday 1986. I used it mostly for gaming, before
year 1987, i did some coding with BASIC. Later i noticed, Sam
of Beyond Force was my classmate. That was 1989-1990, if i remember
correctly. We started swapping some disks, and got some demos from Beyond
Force. I was mostly curious about the "party report" scroll texts, but
also interested how the demo effects were done, not that if i understood
them at all :) Not to forget the great tunes they selected for their
demos. This made me interested to type in a "megasound music editor" from
a paper magazine called "Mikrobitti", which was released in 1987 or 1988
i remember. That's how i came up as a composer. Sam liked my work and
asked me to join Beyond Force. They were moving to Amiga that time, so i
didn't. Later, in 1990-1991 when i was 15, i studied some assembly coding
on a C64 and so i created my first disknoter in 1990 or so. That was a
good start. The disknoter was easy enough, i even created some complex
tables right with a typed-in MC monitor, and had no and fancy assemblers
or coding tools at all. It took only few days to figure out the things
in those days.

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

I only used to my C64, and still do. Today i also have a P3 and Duron
(read: PC's) with Linux/Win/Whatever OS for the internet connectivity...
for videos and mp3s mainly ;-)

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

Good question. I liked to create music, but i was also interested in
computer logic, which meant hobbies like coding and electronics. Sometimes
i also liked to create some pixel art, but probably the music was mostly
dominating after i found myself a musical talent when i was 5. I created
my first real tune that time, some guys call that strange. I started
to listen a lot of music: I have recorded near to 200 different 90min
C-tapes of music from the best ones played on a radio until now - it might
have some affect on my "dependency" on music - probably to find my own
style aswell :)

Still, i have been more interested about coding stuff instead... but for
the music, it is so "easy" it just.. comes out. Ofcourse, sometimes the
result was not as successful (should it?), but i think it makes no sense
"to compose the same tune twice" either. Maybe that's how i keep up my
interest on composing.

Let just the commercial musicians multiplying their single idea. I can
never understand people who keep on carrying their money to Sony or
whatever, only listening to the same tune actually, with a slightly
changed melody. Secondly, anybody could be a musician. Just the radio
doesn't play the everything.

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

Hmm... On C64 side, i've been testing multiple players. Just to mention
the ones which i used to as most: DMC (Demo Music Creator v1 and V4),
and SYNC. Some tunes were also produced with Megasound, Voicetracker,
JCH newplayers, DMC types V5.x, and SDI (Sid Duzz'It). The others editors
i tried out (as far as i remember) was Iseq, Music Assembler, some tunes
with HCL's editor preview, Goattracker, John's player... and many
tracker/sequencer previews that i simply can't recall. Not to forget
Commodore BASIC and toys like Activision's allmighty... "Music studio" ;)

On Amiga side i have tried Protracker. PC side, FastTracker 2. Well, those
mentioned are the best known ones anyways, which doesn't tell you if it is
actually not the best one for composing.

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

There are some, they are sidtunes... Hmm, the few ones i was really got
feeling a success at their time... from oldest to the newest:

"Afterwinter" for my first kicks ;) , "City Rythmicity" for finding my
own style... "Sonic Fox Digging Digital" as a melodical disco experiment,
"Quartz Intrace" sounding great ever since using probably the worst and
most user-unfriendly music editor in the world ;)

Probably "Wader Shores" from the "Wader" series, aswell as "Tropical
Seaside", and "Strobosphere" (sid/xm) as my first trance style.
"Breath Of Fire" for being a style not of mine, i heard some people said
this one was excellent. Hmm.. probably "Extreme Silence" for being
strange enough, "Azmagutah" going on Sid Goa with a 8580, "Tarzan flye"
for its jungle theme.

IMHO, The best arrangements i ever managed were "GSM-interrupt",
"Eternal Light", "Voe Taevas", "Jaq", maybe "Time to Time" (4sid/xm),
"Rest In Pieces", and "Burp". They are the most "Finished" on their
arrangement and additionally some echos and extra material, even since
you might hear all of the 3 SID voices(?) were fully occupied. Listen and
wonder ;)

"National Park GRAVE DANGER" for some ethno stuff, "Beroot Olejuuri" for
being funky, "Lightspeed" for the latest success.

Now that might be a hard bit to cut it short... :)

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

Some. "Collection 1", "Encyclopedia", "Dustbin" and Agemix 1..3 packs.
Simply crappy horror, one-minute creationss with such a "the amount
against the quality" brainbug at that time... and the stuff were even put
together! I really hope they were not spread anywhere. The contents are
even not mentioned in my tunes list.

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

In a demo, it should play the most important role. With some demos it
doesn't, and if it is a jazz theme or some other non-leading music genre
in question. If the music sounds bad, the whole demo is bad...

On a game, it depends. Most times, during a game, it is just best to
turn off the music, as it could be even disturbing. Mostly they were.
I always turned "sound fx" on instead, if possible. But ofcourse, there
are many nice exceptions where i rather, um, "played" some worse game,
mainly for listening purpose ;)

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

For leisure.

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

Not just an another format, but also, probably a better method. Atleast
for me. They ofcourse take a lot more space (excluding midis), but it is
usually just a good choice, instead of playing the tune with a
playroutine of a specific module player, which doesn't play the tune
correctly as it was intended. The same goes for MODs with extra
tracker commands, and emulated .sid tunes as far as f.e. sids still do
refuse to play correctly with the emulators.

I only listen to the original source or a good quality mp3, if possible.

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

Hmm, that's not easy to guess, but i think i already went and answered the
most for that one on above... Let's take a few which i do play now
and then: GSM Interrupt, Voe Taevas, Eternal Light, Oldskoolcrayfish and
Beroot Olejuuri. Also the Wader series and Audio man series belonged.

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

Some people recommended that. Well, i'm personally not interested in
doing so, i've already heard 'em all sooo many times i may just put them
only in some silent place (he he). If someone is interested, just burn
it baby!

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

This varies every week...

Dance Nation? Apoptygma Berzerk? Kylie Minogue? MADONNA?! ;-))
Just kidding... NOT!

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

A lot! Especially, many friends. Sharing demos and utilities. The
enjoyment of swapping stuff, asking questions, giving answers, sharing
our knowledge and ...wisdom? And finally: We are the family!

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

Yes, for computers as a hobby. But what it comes to the current releases..
Not much recently, but it all depends :-)

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

The Greetings, hot beers and cold chicks to the cool c64 coders,
composers, lifestyle artists, hardware freaks, partydudes... and all my
friends in the whole scene i got to know! :)

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