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?

I was 5 years old and my mom bought me an Apple ][+ -- I think that was like
1983 or so. I loved that Apple, tons of software still in my head today
from that platform. Hella Zork!!!

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

I had an Apple ][ to start, like I said, but an old Olivetti 8086 followed
with the green screen. I used that one to play Planetfall, the first
Infocom game I really ever played on a PC. We only had a couple games, and
GW Basic, which had a ton of software. I used to make music with the music
codes for GW Basic -- the first attempt at digital composition!

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

Well, I did do other things like graphics and coding -- mainly coding in
those days before Photoshop came out. I remember copying large amounts of
code from BASIC manuals and I would write little adventure games or
choose-your-own adventures. When I got my first real PC, a 486, I started
making MOD and S3M files. I did all this work on a PC, I wasn't an Amiga
guy, I'd never seen an Amiga, but I did have access to a C64. I think
what got me into the whole thing was Demos. The more Demos I saw the more
I wanted to make one, and I was fascinated with the amiga MOD format,
because it sounded so much better than lamer MIDI compos that I had heard
previously. All this on a PC speaker! I was amazed, and my friends and
I began to dissect the format with whatever editors we could find. Later,
we wrote MOD players and used MOD files in our games.

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

Well, I remember DigiTracker being one of the first, but I started using
ScreamTracker 3 when it came out. I thought the S3M format was phat and
eventually got into XMs for a little while. I liked the S3Ms mainly
because there were 8 channels up to 16 or 32 and I couldn't stop tracking
then. I'm surprised I don't see more on the site from what I produced..

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

I wrote a track for a game called FutureStrike that we were making and
from that moment I felt I had reached my peak in MOD file creation. My
friend, Racer X, encouraged me to continue, and so I made a few more after
that. But really the track "Imminent Darkness" was by far the best. I'll
see if I can find those for you guys to put up.

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

In a way, the track I made right before Imminent Darkness. I felt that
everything up until that point was a little too ripped for my taste -- I
liked to take sections of mod files and over-tweak the settings so that
the samples sounded whacked out and different, and use those as a basis
for other tracks. I'd layer the whacked out samples over new samples.
But with Imminent Darkness, I stopped that all together and created
something completely new. The settings were still over-tweaked but it was
all original. I also had a habit before ID to use long samples to
build the basis for the track; that stopped after that.

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

Definitely key, but only if it is used properly. Sometimes music over
emphasizes parts, and sometimes its just right. I think music is
something that is often overlooked and sometimes underused in games
generally.

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

I made a lot of independant hiphop last year, as well as tons of trip-hop
beats, but I'm moving in a different direction now, and music is taking
the backburner. I produced 7 albums and released 3 of them on the
internet, and felt that I had done enough to establish myself as a digital
musician. I got used to all the programs, Reason, rebirth, Fruity,
Acid, Vegas, Sound Forge, and had spent about 3-4 years learning how to
use the programs. I started with just Sound Forge and a desktop mic, and
now I've got a tabletop mixer and a low-noise mic mixer, conjoined with a
borrowed SK1200S gen music synth keyboard and a pair of Shure SM58s. I
use Reason to make backbeats and Fruity to overlay samples and loops and
do it all live, then do production in Sound Forge. Nothing really beats
sound forge -- not even Acid or Vegas -- it's the only way to really get
at the waveform I think.

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

I don't really think of it in terms of files anymore -- that's the thing,
now its all WAVs for me. I use the raw audio and produce tracks that way,
using the programs like Reason to create the sounds and transitions are
done live, so I really find the file formats to be adequate for their own
individual purposes. I do, however, find MP3s to be not nearly the
quality they claim or want to be, even at high kps, but nothing beats 60
gigs of music stored in 10!

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

From the Mod world, I would say the tune using all those Young Ones
samples -- I think nothing better captures that era for me more than that
MOD. My splatterpunk friends loved that one! And as far as quality is
concerned, my all-time favorite music composer in this format is Purple
Motion, who continues to be an inspiration and whom I think really broke
out of the genre with the quality of tracks he produced.

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

I actually used to make MOD Cds for people with my tracks and other
people's tracks on them, but now I'm kinda out of MODs and on to other
things.. so, I guess.. no?

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

TRANCE: Paul Van Dyk, Ministry of Sound
DnB: Andy C, AK1200, roni size
HIPHOP: quasimoto, and MADLIB THE BADKID!!!!!!
TURNTABLISM/TRIP-HOP: doctor L

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

Shock Warrior.

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

I now produce tracks using other softwares on other platforms. My
favorite mod-like tracker is Fruity Loops, which I think really
keeps it real and hella fun to use. Otherwise, I'm into Reason and my
compatriots use Reaktor.

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

Tesla.. Chris Cool.. Renaissance.. Thoth.. Wierd, Razor and White
Dragon, Dingo -- Racer X!!!

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