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?

I've been interested in videogames for as long as I can recall. The first game
I ever played was Blockade (=Snakes) in 1977. I was five then. Other arcade
games I have fond memories of are Galaxians, Crazy Climber, Frogger, Death
Ride 2000, etc.

In the early 80s I got a color Pong game from my parents and in '84 I got an
Atari 2600. Then a friend of my dad's had bought a Commodore 16 and I was
totally amazed. I discovered programming and wanted to create my own games.
That was the main reason for getting a computer. After lots of nagging to my
parents, I finally got my C16 in April 1985 when I was 12. That was when it
all started.

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

I used my C16 for programming my own programs in Basic. I acquired my basic
computer skills on that machine. But as there wasn't much oftware available
for it, I got a C128 (which included a C64 ofcourse!) in 1987. Another new
world opened for me. The C64 had great musical capabilities by which I was
awestruck. I decided to make my own tunes later that year.

In 1988 I acquired an Amiga 500 and started using it next to the C64. It
didn't take long before I started making MODs as well. And yet a year later
I bought my first synth, a Korg M1. That's when things really started
musical-wise.

I still have all my computers and most of them still worked (last time I
checked), except for the C128.

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

Actually I did (and still do) both: gfx and music. I was in a famous C64
group called Legend and later in an Amiga demo group called Shadow. My coding
skills never really advanced beyond Commmodore BASIC and a little fiddling
around in assembler.

The urge to create my own music came after hearing Jean-Michel Jarre's music.
The amazing sound of the C64 and the fact that I wanted to create my own game
were the direct motive. With the C64 I had an instrument with which I could
make music, without needing any theoretical music knowledge. I quickly got
the hang of it and learned composing all by myself, improving with each song
I made.

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

On C64: Ubik's Music, Future Composer and Sound Booster (written by Midas, a
friend of mine).

On Amiga: everything from Soundtracker 1.0 up until Protracker 2.x. Not much
else really.

ON PC: Fast Tracker II and Mad Tracker.

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

I haven't reached my goal yet. Istill want to improve. Doesn't every musician?
Especially in my early years, I quickly made one tune after another, and to me
they sounded all amazing at their time of creation. But when looking back at
them, these first tunes weren't so great. When you become more experienced,
you take more time to create a tune, and you can make it sound better. I
started out with SIDs, then MODs, and now synths. I hope there's still more
to come! :-) The unfortunate thing is that I have much less time than I used
too, so I'm not nearly as productive as I used to be.

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

The ones I would like not to remember never left my house! ;-)

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

There were and are great musicians and great musics out there. But times have
changed (or perhaps it's just me). Before there were technical limitations and
people tried hard to get the most out of those 4 channels of music. Now there
are practically no limitations and part of the fun is gone. With more options
at your disposal, it's harder to choose and takes longer to make something.
I'm not telling that early game and demo tunes were better! But it was my
youth back then, so those memories remain great. Younger composers will think
the same of today in a couple of years.

Anyway, I think composing music for demos is a great way to start a musical
career.

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

Both. I mainly do synth music these days, as a hobby mostly. Through the
years, I've built my little studio at home.

I work as an allround multimedia engineer. This job is really the
continuation of my hobby. My job consists mostly of a much graphical work,
some beta testing, assembling cd-roms, creating websites, and last but not
least... composing music, for games mostly. Usually these tunes are limited
to short looping tunes of max. 1 minute, which are used on cd-roms or as
background loops in games. When the tunes have to be finished really quickly I
may just use my keyboard (still the good old Korg M1) to play some General
Midi sounds of the Soundblaster. When I have more time I use the synths in
my studio.

Recently the company I work for started making software for Pocket PC, those
little Windows powered PDA's. The ideal music format to put in those games
is ofcourse the good old MOD. So after 10 years I picked up composing MODs!
More precisely the good old 4-channel ones, as you don't have the luxury
of playing so many channels at ones on a Pocket PC. It's very strange, that
now, after 10 years I'm composing ProTracker MODs again. Really weird how
things can turn out.

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

Where would I be without MIDI. :-) I wouldn't have any studio! MIDI is great
ofcourse, but it's getting a little old and slow for today's standards.
They should devise a new standard.

Digital compression is getting better all the time. MP3 is ofcourse very
popular, but I just hate the digital distortion that sometimes creeps in
those files, when they're badly compressed. Most people don't give a damn
or don't hear it, but if you know what to listenfor, it can be annoying. I
still prefer uncompressed audio and I probably always will. But again, MP3
is great and it has revolutionised music distribution on the internet.

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

That's a hard one. And since you didn't specify, I'll give you my C64 and
Amiga faves. In no particular order and not all inclusive...

C64: Too many great songs to mention. Some of the best: The Alibi (Laxity),
Shades (Chris Huelsbeck), Alloyrun (Jeroen Tel), Piece of Mind (Jesper
Olsen), Sanne (Link), Infinity (Deek), and most music by Rob Hubbard,
Martin Galway and JCH...

Amiga: Also too many to mention. Some of the best: Sarcophaser
(Karsten Obarski), Desert Dream (Laxity), Telephone (?Walkman?), R-Type,
Logical, Shadow of the Beast (in which Whittaker sampled half his M1!),
some stuff by Allister Brimble, ...

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

I finally finished my first full cd with synth music. I've been making synth
music for over 10 years, but never got round to putting together a full cd.
Still have to release it though. No concrete plans to remaster my old
MODs/SIDs however... From time to time I'd like to listen to my old musics,
and then I sometimes think about how those tunes could be improved with
today's technology and my experience. It may happen that I remix one or
two old tunes from C64 or Amiga on my synths, but nothing is sure. An entire
CD with those tunes in unlikely.

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

I've always had a broad interest in music, but my preference still goes out
to electronic music, ambient etc. No favorites at this time. Whatever genre,
music has to touch you emotionally in some way, by the melody or the words.

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

The best time of my life, without a doubt!

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

Not really. I still download new MODs from time to time and stuff from demo
competitions, but I'm not actively involved anymore. For my job I'm still
active in the PC and Pocket PC games/multimedia industry. The strange thing
is, the computer scene is/was actually a small world. Five out of eight
colleagues at work share approximately the same C64/Amiga background as I,
and some of them I already knew indirectly or by handle from my scene days.
It's really amazing.

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

Hi to my old Legend pals, such as Goldfish, Powerplant, TMBC and all the
others. Also to my Shadow brothers Midas and Elco! And a big hi to all the
people I knew in the scene between '87 and '94 (the time I was actively
involved).

One last word from me: What I love is that Amiga and C64 have made a lasting
impression on computer music. MOD files originated from Amiga. The SID chip
(C64) was even put in a modern synth. And there's a legacy of 10,000's of
tunes that should be preserved. It's an enormous task and I'm glad someone
is doing it! Thanx guys! I'm glad I'm part of it. Computer music will never
die!

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