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?

My interest started when the gaming console I had as a kid (Mattel
Intellivision) bored me and some friends of mine got their first computers
(TI-99 and C64 mostly). I saw that there's more to electronic entertainment
than just playing games and so it all started. This must have been in the early
80's I would guess 1982/83.

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

Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500, Intel 486, Amd Athlon.

I started doing 'serious' stuff on the C64. I never really was into playing
that much but even at that time enjoyed listening to music in games/demos. So
after teaching myself how to 'rip' music out of games and being introduced to
the scene in general, I started coding lame intros noone has ever seen probably
except for me (I never gave them away). I tried to do music on the C64, but the
pieces were really bad and at that time I wasn't really mastering the SID.

With the appearance of the Amiga and Karsten Obarskis Soundtracker, I finally
started to compose for real (real meaning I wanted to do music that other
people might like too, not that my songs actually were any good). I still
remember listening to the first ST-01 songs like Crystal Hammer or Blueberry,
ah those were the times ! Also I always shifted between programming and making
music which gave me the advantage not having to rely on asking another guy to
put my music into a demo ;)

Over the time I got less interested in making music and nowadays I'm rarely
touching any music editor at all. Most of my time goes into programming.

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

As I wrote above I actually do code. Back in the old days 1 guy could do a demo
on his own so I also did some GFX. But my attempts at doing Graphics are best
decribed as 'programmers art'. My reasons for making music were always the same:
to relax, fleeing from everydays sorrows or just because I thought I could do a
better version of a certain tune.

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

C64: Soundmonitor, Rockmonitor, SIDMon

Amiga: All of the Sound/Noise/Star/Protrackers, SIDMon, Future-Composer,Sonic
Arranger

PC: It/Scream/Fasttracker, Buzz, Orchestrator, Cakewalk

Most of my time I spend composing in Protracker on the Amiga. Today I would
prefer using Cakewalk or Buzz.

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

None so far. What's the goal anyway ? I feel that I technically got quite good
in tracking but never really achieved an own style. I also was lacking creativity
when it came to refining solos and had a hard time evolving the main theme.

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

Actually most of them. Just because they sound (and are) so basic compared to
todays music and techniques.

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

Music is definitely more important in a demo because it's passive entertainment
and you're probably listening more closely. However I'm very extreme when it
comes to music and games. If there's a game with stunning graphics and amazing
story but the music is bad or doesn't fit I wouldn't enjoy playing it. I
personally rate music higher than graphics because it affects my mood more than
graphics could ever do.

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

No, I'm rarely composing nowadays and definitely not for profit. As I told above
my career shifted towards coding instead which doesn't leave me much time to
do anything else. Some years ago I did some MIDI Renditions of old C64 Tunes I
loved and they are still around somewhere on the internet. I also experimented
a bit with PC Trackers but nothing really worth to mention.

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

They are just different data formats so I don't exactly get your question (what
about OGG btw. ?).

If you meant to ask about my opinion concerning todays music the answer is I'm
unsure. The easy access to music and composing tools certainly creates the
feeling that there is a bigger diversity and more music to choose from. However
I personally think that this also causes a huge shitload of crap to be released.
Just have a look at the charts nowadays and compare them to earlier times.
Today most (if not all) of the new songs just sound so similar to me, it's very
boring. Everytime the record industry and media notice a new youth trend they
are pushing it so much in the hopes to get money back from the losses of MP3
Trading it's just not funny. Anyway if you disagree just call me a nostalgic
old fart then ;)

It's exciting to see though that game soundtracks finally try to reach movie
soundtrack quality.

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

Uh oh there are so many of them it's probably unfair to pick certain ones only.
Instead I'll tell you my favourite composers from different platforms:

C64:

Rob Hubbard (although he ripped lots of melodies from classic and electronic
tunes)
Martin Galway (still in Love with Parallax)
Tim Follin (most varied and crazy songs I know)
Ben Daglish (could still have a good time watching the Trap Demo)
Fred Gray/Jeroen Tel

(fairly standard, huh?)

Amiga:

4-Mat

Moby (especially for bringing guitar riffs to the tracking scene)
Nuke (Acid Jazz just rules!)
Bruno
Codex
Pseudolukian

(I definitely missed some, it's just so long ago)

PC:

Jeroen Tel
Hunz
Drax
Pink

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

I might be sadistic sometimes but not that much, no I won't ever produce a cd.
However I'm planning to redo and record some of my Midi Tunes. I just need some
time and a better gear.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

This isn't easily answered because it changes constantly. I like listening to
all sorts of music from Electronic to HipHop (however I strongly dislike groups
like Korn or Limb Bizkit).

Some artists often seen in my playlist:

Chemical Brothers
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Warren G
Massive Attack
Snoop Dogg
Cake
Depeche Mode
Prodigy
Apollo440
Propellerheads

I also like listening to game soundtracks a lot and my SID Tune Collection is
in good shape.

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

Back then:
Lots of good and bad memories (mostly good), a wrecked social life, bad school
marks due to staying up all nights, lots of computer experience and finally a
job. All in all I don't regret a single thing and I somewhat feel that there
was something special about the scene in the 80's and early 90's which can't
be brought back. I was lucky that I was a part of it.

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

No, unfortunately not. I'm still a regular visitor on scene pages like pouet.net
or Orange Juice and I still get a kick out of demos from Farbrausch or Haujobb
to just name a few but my last scene release was a decade ago on the Amiga.
I recently got into Gameboy Advance Programming which has this certain oldschool
feeling to it. One of these days I might just surprise everybody and really
release something again...

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

Yes thanks ! I would like to greet all of the guys from the old days of partying
and TSB Tabletennis, some of them I haven't seen for about 12 years now...so
here we go...

Greetings to:
Electrica + Alloc + Laserdance + Ivan + Schorse + Pseudolukian + Icecube +
Dr. Dre + Eltronic + Stargazer + Fornax + Mike + Hotzi + Doc Ice + Trackers +
all the ones I missed here, you're not forgotten ! Oh and I always wanted to
write this into a greeting list -> Special Greetings to SCA - GCS - Indy -
Jedi - Dynamic Duo and Radwar ! :D

(if you got here you're probably really bored so greetings to you as well)

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