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?

That was back in 1982. Up until then, I just had a crappy Binatone Pong game I
connected to the TV. Walking to school in 1982 with my friend Dave Edwardson
(later formed Pulse Productions), he told me he was getting a ZX-81 computer
for Christmas. I asked "What is a computer?" (stupid question). He explained
it, and come christmas 1982, he had it. We all crowded round to his house,
played many games, but within 3 months, we were bored with playing games, and
decided to try write our own, so I guess that's when the real addiction
started.

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

I got my first computer in September 1983 (Commodore VIC-20), and then
progressed up to the Commodore-64 in 1985. I first saw the C-64 about 2
months after getting the VIC-20, and my parents not wanting to spoil me
made me wait another 2 years before I got the Commodore-64. I liked the
sound on the Commodore-64, and the fact that the languages were pretty much
the same as the VIC-20, it was an easy move for me. I started learning
assembler language when I was about 14 (my VIC-20 days), and within 5 days
of owning a C64, I had coded a testcard type screen for the C64, so I was
inspired to learn more, hence the Amiga, PC, Gameboy, Atari-ST and Atari Jaguar.

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

I got into music lessons at the age of 7 (family friend teaching me basic
piano), but when I got to the age of 9 or 10, I started learning brass
instruments at school and joined many school bands and orchestras across
Edinburgh (my original up-bringing), so music actually came long before
computers did. When I got into computers, I liked things audible more than
anything else, hence watching demos all the time. This is where I feel a
lot of clever things have developed.

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

Recently, I used FastTracker 2.08 but my new computer doesn't support it
anymore. I have converted my EMS V6.03 player to the PC and upgraded it to V6.04
(V6.05 is in the Pipeline). My own player is very difficult for other people to
get into (unless they ever tried to do music in an assembler, and succeeded)!
It's basically a text language of tracks, sequences and other sound effects,
and I had to write a compiler to parse it into the binary format for the player.

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

Ooh, that's a hard question. I never do reach my goals as I keep getting more
ideas or want to do something else. I would say that for the C64, I probably
did quite well with the title theme to Turbocharge, but that was mimmicing the
style of the Maniacs of Noise. My favourite that I have done sofar is the MP3
version of A Sporting Chance. I went for a Chris Huelsbeck style theme which
was to be used for a soccer game on the CD32, but never got used in the end.
The MP3 version is far more superior to the original which was Midi format and
designed for the One-Stop Music Shop card on the Amiga. The MP3 version uses
samples from the original Amiga soundcard. It was trackered and rendered out
and mixed before it's release.

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

I'm not sure. I do have favourites and dislikes, and would certainly not want
to be remembered for my pre-1989 stuff. That's when my coding sucked and I used
real crappy sound programs like Electrosound, Rockmonitor and other early
development players of my own. I would say that my favourite C64 tune would
probably be my cover of the Jeroen Tel tune "In my life, my mind". That was
the last tune I ever did on the C64, but maybe not the last ever. I lost the
source code to the C64 EMS V8 player and I might need to write a newer player
for this machine. This happened when I had a serious hard disk crash on the PC
about a year ago. I recovered lots of stuff, but my C64 folder disappeared!

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

Something atmospheric and suited to the game or demo. Far too many times, I
have done music without ever seeing graphics or a demo of the game. I like it
when a demo is synchronised to the music. That way, it gives a sort of scenario.
However, far too many times (especially on the C64) does a demo consist of a
static screen without changing beyond the main effect.

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

Yes, and I am still working on EMS V6.05 for the PC. I'm working on synth
routines to calculate small synth samples realtime instead of storing them in
tables. Once I have this finished, I will be releasing lots of re-makes and
tunes for everyone to try. EMS works under DeliPlayer at the moment, and it
will more than likely be turned into a stand-alone player too!

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

I always go hunting for nice sounding midis, but the fact remains that the
tunes sound crap on some hardware setups, and nice on others. Probably why I
prefer mp3's (but I can hear the difference between a wave and an mp3 version
of the same tune).

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

That is easy. At the moment, I am heavily into the sound of Tammo (KB)
Hinrichs. That tune he did for the PC demo "The Product" may be repetative,
but to store 111mb's of that 11 minute synth tune into just 14kb is what
whetted my appetite to start messing around with synth algorithms, but that
tune is perfect to the atmosphere of the demo and his softsynth is pretty
stunning in my opinion! His other tunes like "Picnic in the Meadow" and the
tune for the "Party 2001" invitation are excellent. How many people can
synthesize that type of female choir sound?

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

Absolutely. I would love to do my Turbocharge track as a real remastered piece
of music, not that lame "Run the C64 track in the background and put other
synths over the top of it". That does NOT appeal to me!

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

Well, I am very picky about music. People say I go for far too "nicey-nicey"
and more pop or rock styles of music. I like to hear something of a
musical/tuneful nature, not nasty dirty synths playing random notes which
you can never remember a theme. I absolutely loathe drum'n'bass. People who
do that are just so un-talented (sorry if I offend but I feel very strong about
this). My all-time favourite groups/artists would be A-ha, Petshop Boys,
Nicholas Gunn, Jean-Michel Jarre, Dusty Springfield and Lauryn Hill to mention
a few!

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

It gave me recognition at an early age. I constantly get e-mails from people
saying how much they love my music, but I get embarrassed quite heavily if they
keep giving me too many compliments. I also get lots of e-mails from people
saying "Can I be your friend?" or "Can I have your autograph to show my
friends I know you?".

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

I still do my little bit in Cosine, but getting people motivated is the big
problem these days. We should finally get round to making a follow-up demo to
Lethargy, and call it "Lethargy-II"! However, I feel my heart is following
newer technology and even more powerful hardware.

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

OK, I would like to just say a quick "hello" to all the other Cosine guys,
Peter Kunath and Florian Vorberger (authors of DeliPlayer, thanks Peter for
all that technical help you've given me over the past year or so), my
favourite PC composer of the moment Tammo (KB) Hinrichs, Jeroen Tel, Mark
Knight and anyone else I have forgotten.

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2001 by crown of cryptoburners
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