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?

well, this question is quite hard for me to tell you about this. You see,
computer has always been in my life, somewhere, always around me. It's
like answering a question about when mankind was born. That wasn't
something that happened over a day but more over a bigger timescale and
suddenly today we think we are seperate from nature. But we aren't.

It's like that with me and computers. I've always thought i've been the king
over the computer but acctually not known until now that i am the computer,
and that my interest about computer has always been there. But I think it was
around age 7 (84?) when I first touched a computer (ZX Spectrum). I made
some games written from a computermagazine, the ones that had a codelisting
and you had to type it all the time. And every time you got this strange bug
and had to go through every line again. I wonder how I survived then.

So my interest has gone on since ever hence. Now I feel more i would like to
work with flowers. They are alive, and much nicer.

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

Let's see.

ZX Spectrum - Played games and made some code in.

Commodore 64 - Played games, made games/demo-like stuff, and listened to
sidmusic ofcourse. Still use it as an computer game/demo
machine. Nice and still lives inside us all.

Amiga - It was my brother who got an Amiga, and i wasn't allowed to
touch it but i sneaked into his room when he was away and
played with it. It had really cool games and it was on the
amiga i first watche demos. A friend of mine had bougt a
second hand amiga and some old demogroup had had it. I got
to borrow it and there was alot of disks with 'demos' and
'musicdisks' and I found them alot more enjoying than of the
games. So, I think I sat and watched demos for long and long.

386-PC - This was my mothers PC which I think i crashed a couple of

times.

486-PC - This is where I started to get interested in making music

and coding.

... goes on and on. Now I've got a pII-450 and i feel like such a bad boy.

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

Hmm, I wouldn't say that I stuck up with music. I do all things whenever some
idea pops in my head. Sometimes I just want to code. Sometimes I just want to
draw, and sometimes I feel to code. I wouldn't be able to stick with just thing,
and I'm a curious character who likes to investige what hides underneath almost
everything. When you know how to do alot of stuff, you also get the knowledge
on what tool you can use for the specific moment.

Like if I was to make an artwork about the people suffering of americas bombs,
then I have the freedom to choose between several forms to make it complete.
And if you would like to fit all these three methods togehter you can create
a demo with your own vision. It's much easier to express.

Music is only one artform, why not use more?

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

There have been alot. But I'm that type that's been sticking with Fasttracker
II most of the time. Nice and clean interface with all the features you need to
make music. Afterwards I've gone more into MIDI and use an old synth called Korg
POLY along with a SID-station. And I use Cubase for the sequencing. It's great!
But I can't run it on my computer anymore so I've stuck with Cakewalk and it's
making my face turn red everytime I try to make something. So, often I close
that program down and start Buzztracker instead. It's a great "tracker" and got
alot of softsynths and effects built in. I would vote for it.

I've not been that one yelling about 'this tracker is the best', 'no, this
tracker rocks'. I feel like there is not right tracker. Everyone use the
tracker they feel that they're most comfortable with. To force a person to use
a certain tracker would be wrong. Everyone is different.

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

I'm not there yet! Long way to go. You never get complete, you just get more
in your head then suddenly you feel like you want to retire. And that's where
my goal is.

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

No, since music is art, they're all good in their way.

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

In my opinion I would say that they're combined. A demo with music would be
quite boring, wouldn't it? It's what get the graphic and music and code
together that counts. Like if you had seen Moral Hard Candy without sound it
wouldn't hit you that hard comparing to when you have music in it. Music has
a role in a demo, but it's equal with the other parts. Bad music gives bad
demo. Bad gfx gives bad demo. Bad code gives bad demo. Good music, graphics
and code make a good demo. There you have it.

It's like a meal you eat and only eat the sallad, when there's so much more.

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

Yes, I've still composing but most for fun. I feel that music should be made
without getting money into the picture. It's just a kick for the commercial
and greedy era, and that's not where I'm heading. I'm heading inside, to take
out the music that I'm holding inside me. I express my feelings into sound
when I feel. But most of my time I'm much into music listening, exploring
music styles, getting inside the music. Live with the music, and you become
music.

Currently I'm working as a Visual Basic / C programmer, or as we have this
nicer word for it. It's called 'consultant'. But as always, I would be a good
flower-keeper.

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

I like it. The technology is advancing all the time and not to be getting that
new into yourself you lock yourself. It's like the artists who were into
photographs, soon after the videocamera came they were all saying 'oh, this
is not an artform, our artform is the best'. So they didn't accept the new
idea, but all kids were into films because that's where their technology-sight
began. Not with old tools like an ordenary camera. And we all see where that
went?

Use whatever tool you want, just that you are happy with it.

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

Oh, i can't remember this so much. I've made a couple of tunes that I like more
than the others but since you always develop, old tunes tends to get worse, and
so on. So a favorite tune I had a long time a go, isn't that now. Progress. I
dont have any favorite now, i don't like eliteism anymore. It's like screwing
yourself down, and getting stuck. Be flexible, be open.

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

No, I've made CD-mixes of music for people and friends. But I think I dont ever
will release a CD. I'm not selling myself.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Oh, that's alot. I have around 500 CD's with music ranging from jazz to soul
to disco to acidjazz to eighties to industrial to eurodisco to electronic music
(IDM) to drum 'n bass to house to techno to minimalistic techno and around
again.

Right now I'm listening to Front 242 and remember some good ol' times.

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

Alot of beatings from my brother! :D

They've giving me a memory and a part of my life which has been fun. Being
grewn up in a world where you get to start with a lo-fi computer and work
yourself up to the computers today has been more than fun. It's development
and the evolution for computers. It will never end!

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

Yes, I'm active in a group called DC5. We make stuff. A demo sometimes,
some music sometimes, some game sometime. It's a an inactive active group.

And I still have alot of friends who have been or are active in the scene, so
I can't never be inactive. I am a part of the scene. Once you're in you can't
get out. The scene take care of its own. Now I'm on this irc-channel where
new sceners are going to, and we're giving them a zone to be where the arrogant
old sceners - those who call the new scene lame but they're perfectly knowing
they've been at that same position - won't bother them. The scene is alive!
Like never before!

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

Well, I would like to greet the people whom i know. You know who you are.

Stop the USA-invasion of the world!
Treeting terrorists like Hitler treated jews is like becoming Hitler.

Yeah, and all must read 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn. It's my message to the world.

:)-@<

Peace, and be nice to each other,

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