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?

My very first contact with computers was around 1986 - it was Atari (800XL
as far as I remember) at my friend's, but it didn't really arouse much
interest in me - I just played River Raid a bit ;). It was not until 1989
(or so) that I had a chance to play with my cousin's C-64 and that was
probably the moment you're asking about. Again, I found this machine useless
if no joystick was plugged in :)). Then, in 1990, another friend of mine
bought Amiga 500 (mind that I still didn't have my own machine) and the
actual craze began as Amiga's graphic and sound capabilities simply blew me
away. Unfortunately, my parents were quite reluctant to present me with a
computer - they were afraid that this piece of equipment would cause
considerable deterioration of my grades at school :). Eventually I got Amy
in 1992 and soon it turned out that they'd been damn right ;))).

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

A500: gaming, lame graphics and AMOS "programming" :), music (sold in 1995)
A1200: music, some gaming (broke down, I bought another one :)

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

No reason really. First I wanted to be a graphician, but the results of my
drawing were quite far from expectations, to put it mildly... Then I got (by
chance) NoiseTracker with those six disks of samples (all infected with
Saddam :) and started listening to the included songs. Mere curiousity made
me watch what all those weird letters and digits in the editor caused to the
music, then I tried to tweak with others' modules (just for learning purposes
- never spread such a tune) and gradually, even without realising it fully, I
started making my own zax... In the meantime, I tried some AMOS programming,
but ended up with simple, rotating line-vectors and realised that my brain is
incapable of grasping anything related to maths in any way ;)...

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

NoiseTracker (for a very short time)
ProTracker 2.x, 3.x
DIGI Booster 1.x
DIGI Booster Pro

Apart from NT, each of them was a basic tool in its time. Still use DBPro
occassionally.

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

Not a single tune makes me fully satisfied, but I find modules like
"Undertaker", "Symmetry" or "Cubic World" quite good. Besides, I don't
usually set a goal beforehand - the music "flows" out of me spontaneously.
Such approach has a drawback - when I add a few patterns to a tune, they are
quite different from what I've done before and - as a result - my modules
tend to be quite chaotic in their construction.

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

Oh, there are many many such tunes - especially the very first, lousy
attempts. Now I regret deleting them, though (since I'm very sentimental).
Some of them might have spread, but most are definitely lost forever. As for
more recent modules, I don't like "Cyber War" because it contains samples of
terrible quality (the cable connected to my sampler must have been shitty)
and "Waiting For You" simply because it's lame, flat and crappy =). I could
name a few more tunes, but the list might become too long :).

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

Music establishes the mood and emphasises what's happening on the screen
(should do so anyway). It's imponderable, so you can't really say that it
makes up - let's say - 40 per cent of the whole. Sight is more important
daily, but in case of demos/games music is as important as the visual aspect
- if the former sucks, the latter, even if mind-blowing, won't make it up
and the entire production will be spoiled.

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

Mainly for leisure, but occasionally I compose professionally (especially
for "video purposes", if I can call it so). But generally I'm not as
prolific as I used to be, which is very sad - I'm getting old :/.

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

MPEG. Well, it's good for a demo or internet, but I don't regard it as a
substitute either for modules or cdda. Most people say there's no difference
between CD and MP3. Well, if you listen to crappy disco on crappy speakers -
this might be true, but try any music from Cold Meat with headphones or good
stereo! WAVE is basically for storing samples. And MIDI is fine as long as
you're not limited to the archaic General MIDI. None of these formats is
really a successor of "traditional" modules in any way - mp3 files tend to
replace them in demos, but... Well, modules is a phenomenon not to be
underestimated or forgotten.

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

It's hard to choose only a few ones, but let's try:

The Final Fight ...... Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican II intro tune)
Sea Knight Theme .......... Jesper Kyd (this tune once made me fall for Ami)
3D Demo Tune .................. Julius
Knulla Kuk !!! .................. Moby
Unreal ][ - The 2nd Reality ... Skaven
No Comment ............... Tomas Danko
Sweet ........... Johannes Bjerregaard
Hawkeye (loader) .......... Jeroen Tel
S-Express ................. Jeroen Tel

and many more...

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

If I ever release a CD, the tunes will be made from scratch rather than
remastered (I'll do my best to keep close to the original ones, though).

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Anathema, Therion, Tristania, Tiamat, Moonspell, Diary of Dreams, Kovenant,
Jarre, a bit of dark ambient a la Narcosis or Puissance, some 80's
electronic/disco, some techno/goa/alike, anything atmospheric and well
arranged (which automatically excludes most of contemporary pop/dance
rubbish :)).

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

The feeling of taking part in something significant, the drive to use my
machine for more creative purposes, a few nice contacts (mostly dead for
years now). If I'd been active enough, it might have given me much more I
guess... And what it definitely didn't give me is fame ;).

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

No, I'm not. Maybe one day I'll visit a party with a tune for the compo, but
it's more like wishful thinking than a realistic plan ;).

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

Laconic greets: Aristo6, Ripper/Nah, guys from the old team: Angus &
Necroscope (it was nice to contact you again after so many years).
I'd also like to greet all the freaks who are keen on modules and still like
old Amiga games - we are a kind of mammoths... ;))

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