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.

,NN' `b. · i n t e r v i e w · ___________

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| _| | | _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?

Must've been 1983-84 I believe, when I got my MSX and a couple of games on tape.

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

MSX, as mentioned above and C64, both mainly for gaming. When I got my Amiga 500
I discovered Soundtracker. (I believe that one of the first tracks I heard was
by Jesper Kyd. If I remember this correctly it was a module called "Funky
Loadertune" or something). Upgraded to Amiga 1200, started to code ASM a little
besides my modulemaking. Now I own 4 PC's. 3 stationary and 1 laptop.

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

My parents bought me lots of instruments when I was a kid, guitars, flutes,
accordions etc. Never went to music school or something, and I never learned how
to read notes. Although I don't think reading notes would benefit any electronic
musician, but still. And since Soundtracker was available to everybody, free of
charge even, made me use it. Creating modules looked simple and the sounds were
"amazing" at that time. I was simply impressed.

Never learned how to draw anything good on paper, so I assumed I'd suck on gfx.
Besides, imagine creating an image by putting pixel after pixel on the screen. ;)
Coding was never interesting until the I got my A1200, I tried coding, created
a small demo. But it was too late, the A1200 was about to "die" So I dropped the
coding bit.

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

On the Amiga I'd have to say: Soundtracker, Noisetracker and Protracker.
PT was probably my favorite. It was for example very accurate, not like
OctaMED that I didn't like cause of it's inaccuracy, it felt like the
sound was heard half a second after the note played, something like
today's ModPlugTracker. Never got used to Screamtracker or Impulsetracker
neither, probably thanks to their non-attractive interface. When I moved
on to the PC I used FasttrackerII. Loved the 28 extra channels in FT2. ;)

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

Actually I never had a "goal". Some modules just turned out to be better than
others and vice versa. Probably depended on the mood/inspiration I had, together
with perhaps, nice samples.

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

I'm sure there is, and it's not only one, surely there's more.
The thing is, that I can't recall all those module names.

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

In my opinion It's at least 50% of the experience. It brings atmosphere to the
"story" which is told, if there's such thing in demos, more important in a game.
When it comes to demos, nothing beats a demo with an awesome piece of electronic
track synchronizing it's beats/sounds to visual effects.

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

I'm still composing, not in a tracker though. ;) I use Propellerheads' Reason.
Mostly for myself and close friends.

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

I'm not sure exactly what you mean but if you mean the file formats then it's
all good. They all have their purpose. One thing btw, I could have something
against WAV-files now as you mention it. I notice that many games still use
this format, 3 quick reasons why game makers should NOT use WAV.

1) Save harddisk space
2) Faster loading / Less HD reading
3) MP3 and OGG sounds as good as WAV

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

I'll mention some musicians instead of tunes. XTD, my favorite module maker.
This guy is underestimated, strong melodies, excellent tracking and unique
sounds, just awesome.

Others are Julius, Bit Arts, Jester, Jesper Kyd, and Uncle Tom. Maybe I've
forgotten one or two. In that case you'll have to forgive me, it was a while. ;)

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

Not really, I'll leave those behind. I create new material now and then and
release it on the web.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Mostly PsyTrance, Infected Mushroom, X-Dream, Astral Projection, MFG etc.

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

It was pure fun. Today it's just a nostalgia trip when listening to old modules
or watching an old demo.

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

Today I'm active in Creative Impact, we haven't released anything in a while now
since our coder now works for Microids as a game programmer. But who knows, we
may enter a compo or two in the future.

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

Psytrancer, Cluster, PimpDaddy, Krashlog, Amuse.
And my favorite module maker as i mentioned above, XTD.
Thanks also goes to Crown of Cryptoburners for this interview.

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