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?

Back in 1985 my father bought a Vic-20 computer. At that time I had no idea
of what a computer was, so the first thing I did was type 'HOLA' (hello in
english). Nothing happened. Then I learned that I had to press 'RETURN' to
enter commands. I did, and I got a '?Syntax error' message... I was amazed...
The computer was trying to say something to me!! It was alive!! (-insert some
thunder and lightning bolts fx here-).

Since then, well, I managed to learn a bit on how these things do work ;)

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

As I said, my first computer was a Vic-20. After several tries to 'chat' with it
typing in plan 'human' language, I had a look at the user manual and I realized
that I had to communicate on another way ;) Then, with the help of that manual
and a couple of books, I learned BASIC. It took around half an hour for me to
type just a four lines program back then...

After learning how to program in BASIC, I did some games and... Music! I did
learn how to use the sound chip, and I wrote several programs that did play
tunes :)

Later, I got a C64. I did more games, cracktros, experiments, and music. And I
learned a bit of machine code (I couldn't get enough books to learn more). Some
years later I got some music trackers (Electrosound and Drummer), and I started
to learn how to use them.

On 1991 I got an Amiga 500. I was in heaven... I did use A LOT deluxe paint,
deluxe video, every tracker I could get, I coded some games in AmigaBasic
and Amos, and some intros and demos in Amos and Assembler. Some years later I
got an A1200 too.

After that, well... The story becomes less interesting as I got an
'ibm-compatible-pc'. I still continued doing games and music on them, but
'it wasn't the same'. And I end up using it mainly for 'work'.

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

Well, that question should be 'For what specific reason did you end up making
music, gfx, and coding?'

The answer is simple: I was alone.

I didn't knew anyone interested on doing 'anything' with computers apart of
playing games when I started.

Later, when I got the Amiga, I did knew a lot of people involved in the scene
and I joined a group (Odrusba). But everybody was too lazy to do anything 'as a
group' XD We had great fun being together, but we weren't any good as a 'team'.
So I continued doing 'all by myself'.

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

Lots... But what I did use most back then, was Protracker on the Amiga. Just
a wonderful piece of software :)

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

No one. I always had a hard time using 'sampled sounds', I felt that was very
limiting. I loved doing music on the C64 because I could give more 'life' to
the sound shaping the waves at will. But when you do use samples, you're stuck
on what did you sample, and I didn't like too much the effect of the frequency
playback on them.

I enjoyed much more doing music on the C64, and then using the great THX (later
known as AHX) tracker from Dexter(Abyss). I did some tunes with it and I felt
much better then ;)

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

Some, but I took care of not releasing them XD They were too cr*ppy, even
for me XD

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

It adds 'emotions' on the experience. Audio & visual stimulation working
together in sync provides a much enjoyable experience :) And that was something
I loved from the 'demo' concept. It was a really 'unique' experience back them
unifying audio, visuals and technology trying to provide a greater experience
each time.

You could put just a cube spinning around... But if you add some music and
you make the cube 'follow the music', it becomes something totally different ;)

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

Yes, for professional purposes. I have virtually no free time, so I can't barely
do anything 'just for fun'.

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

I think each 'format' has its place. If we are talking about just 'music' for
listening, the most possibilities a format can grant you, the better from a
'musician' point of view.

But for a 'old school' musician scener, and one who loves 'chip' music, I did
had much more fun trying to achieve better sounds and music effects back then,
using much more limited sound formats. Nowadays I still found the SID chip on
the C64 as an amazing piece of hardware to do music :) But is not for everyone,
you know ;P

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

That's difficult to answer, I do like tons of tunes. But just talking about
'Amiga' tunes, I could name a few:

All the music from Turrican II.
The loading tunes from Agony (believe it or not, I like them more than the title
music XD).
Ghouls'n'ghost title tune.
The Monkey Island tunes (of course!:D).
Echoing (by WOW).
Somewhere (by Paranoimia).
Unit5 (by Unit5).
Demons soundtrack (by Demons, I think).
All music from Dune.
The title music from Shufflepuck Cafe.
The title tune from Escape from Colditz.

And lots more... There were tons of good music on Amiga :)

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

No. Didn't think about it neither. Anyway, I do usually to like to produce 'new'
tunes. There's a lot of things I've not done yet and that I had around my head.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Lately:

Doro/Warlock
System of a Down
Dio
Iron Maiden
Ambeon
Nightwish
Noise Therapy
Rage
Within Temptation
Akira Yamaoka
Console
Freezepop
Underworld
Delerium
Maggie Reilly
UA
Scientist
Tenacious D

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

Lost of fun :) And I did learn some tricks too ;) Those were the times!

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

No. Too much 'real life', almost no time for hobbies I'm afraid.

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

Hehehe! Greetings! :D Well, I'll try to be short, I don't want to collapse the
internet bandwith of anyone still using a 9600 baud modem ;P

Greetings and respect to the following marvellous old-school-scene-related
people:

Fredius, Nino, Jeu Azarru, Yago, Dardo, Vago, Lobo, Sandman, 007, Troglobyte,
Drareg, Dexter, Fermix & Claudia.

Thanks a lot for the great times! :)

And thanks a lot to the Amiga Music Preservation site for their great work :)

Cheers!! :)

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2006 by crown of cryptoburners
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