Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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,d~' dNNP `YNTb. that's meant to be read while listening to

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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?

Oh, wow, that was quite a long time ago... we had a Pong clone at home and later a VCS2600
So I started playing games when I was around 6 years old!
My neighbours had a C64, and of course, those did peak my interest as well. The first game I ever saw on a C64 was Ghostbusters (and what an amazing experience that was... I mean, I was used to VCS2600 graphics and sound!)
The first games I played myself was Pharaoh's Curse and (yep, really!) Friday the 13th. Classic!

When I was around 8 years old, I moved to a new village, and became good friends with someone owning a C64.
I visited him 4 hours a day - mostly playing games. But I was also interested in coding, so I did my first experiments in BASIC. That was a lot of fun as well!

With the age of 10, my parents decided to buy me a computer as well. I was given the choice between an Amiga and a C64. Heck, what a hard decision that has been.
I mean, I didn't know ANYONE with an Amiga, so I had no idea where to get games. But the Amiga was a dream system... so I made the proper decision and we got an Amiga 500. Which was replaced with an A2000 a few years later - and an A4000 in 1994.

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

As mentioned above, my main system was the Amiga. I tried all kind of things with them. Coding games in BASIC, making music, doing graphics, playing games, creating animations, and I even had a FIDO and AmigaNet Mailbox running on my A4000.
So it was pretty much a "trying out myself" in various directions.

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

Can't say I did. I also did some graphics and made full games in S.E.U.C.K., with graphics and a module player running in the background :D
As for coding: I never got any further than BASIC (and later ASIC on a PC, which is a BASIC dialect with a built-in compiler).
So I was just playing around a bit and made a few simple games.

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

The first one I had was Deluxe Music Construction Kit. Mainly because I learned playing the piano a bit when I was a kid, so it was the most familiar one.
But also the worst one for music production on a computer!
So I started to use SoundTracker, one of the first versions around.
Later I switched to ProTracker, which was where I did most of my compositions. But I also played around with OctaMed and Oktalyzer, having 8 voices was amazing back then! But I never really created a full tune with those.

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

Hm, none of them, to be honest. The first ones I created were... well, okay, but nothing exceptionally good.
I was a 12/13 year old kid playing around with some music tools, what did you expect?
It's nothing you NEED to hear - but that said, they're still better in my opinion than some tunes found in commercially released games.
But that doesn't mean my tunes are good - just that quite a few games had pretty bad music!

The later, unfinished ones sounded a lot better than my first attempts. But I never finished them, so I didn't reach my goal here as well.

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

Not really. I mean, with everything you do in your life, you learn something. Even if the result is poor.
But these are all steps that lead to being the person you are.

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

It's extremely important. I don't like playing games without music. Even when playing GameBoy games or similar: I always turn up the volume.
Games without sound are simply boring.
The music sets the mood and improves the game in every area.
There's a reason silent movies in early cinemas had live music playing.
A demo without music? Who would want to watch that?

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

Unfortunately not. I don't find the time, I've got so much other things to do.

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

Weeell, the reason I switched to console gaming after the Amiga died was because of music on the PC, actually!
The game sounded different whether you had an Adlib, Soundblaster, Gravis Ultrasound, Roland MT-32 or whatever other soundcard you had!
And I really didn't like the sound of the OPL synthesizer.
So I never really could enjoy gaming on the PC. I mean: If the music sounds different depending on the soundcard you have, how could any musician do a proper composition for a game? I always found that a huge step backwards compared to the digitized instruments the Amiga used.

That's the reason I switched to the PlayStation 1: Similar to the Amiga, it's a finished system.
When someone creates a game for it, you can be sure it runs the same on every device. Same speed, same graphics, same music.
That's what I really hated about the PC. MIDI was good for professional compositions with good synthesizers, when the final result was being played out with the exaxt setup the composer was using. But not a good format for gaming.

Of course, these days you use digitized music, so games sound the same again on all systems. That's the reason I returned to gaming on the PC.

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

Ooooh, there are so many for so many different gamings.
I still prefer game soundtracks with recognizable themes.
What I mean with that is: Take the Uncharted series, for example. While the music is good and sets the mood of the game, they're cinematic style.
You have one or two main themes, but there's nothing else you remember. I find the soundtracks also incredibly boring.
I'm more a fan of games where each area has a different tune, for example, a village, a town, outside areas, fights, etc.
Like classic RPGs (and a lot modern ones like the Trails of series as well).

That said... all-time favourite tunes...
On the Amiga, it surely is the Turrican II soundtrack, Dune (the one from Cryo Interactive had amazing music!), Soul Crystal, Pinball Dreams and Fantasies inbetween sounds... there are many.
With more modern games: I absolutely love some tunes from Hollow Knight and Silksong but also Chiptunes like Undertale and Omori.
And both NieR Automata and NieR: Replicant have some AMAZING tunes, definitely.
And Ar Tonelico... there's so many I love, actually :)

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

Haha, no, definitely not. I don't think there's a single one that would be worth it.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Except for soundtracks... hmm. Classic ones, mostly. Like Queen, Extreme, Asia... so, mostly rock.
But I'm definitely mostly listening to video game music.

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

It brought me through me childhood, haha.
Well, up to these days, I'm still amazed how incredible the scene is. There are so many talented people developing new hardware and software as well as nice and friendly users. It's amazing that after all this time, it's still fun to use the classic computers and tinker around with new upgrades and software!

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

If you call running a shop dedicated to retro gaming and homebrew development being active... sure :)
I'm running the DragonBox Shop (dragonbox.de, if it's okay to mention it here), actively focussing on new releases for classic computers and consoles. I'm also supporting the BrewOtaku magazine (brewotaku.com), selling digital as well as printing physical copies of the homebrew games magazine.
My hobby became my job, and that's just awesome!

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

There are soooo many I could greet, I would afraid I'd forget one. So: If you do know me, feel yourself greeted :D

Apart from that, to everyone: Continue to keep the old systems alive. It's amazing and fun at the same time! I love you all :D

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This interview was kindly sent to us by Michili via Kenshigro@Demozoo's Discord in July 2026. thx!

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