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.

,NN' `b. · i n t e r v i e w · ___________

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| _| | | _l_ | | \ / _l_ | ___|

l___/=l___|====l____/===\______|==l______|\ /l___/===\______l____/

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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?

My interest for them started exactly at 14.06.85, when my brother bought a
powerful ZX Spectrum 48k :) At that time he was studying electronics at
high school, and he wanted a computer to help him with his studies and to
play games. It was however frustating to have to ask everytime for his
permission to use it, as it was in his bedroom. I was starting to dream a
computer for my own...

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

On the Spectrum I started a lot of games projects in Basic, none of them I
ever finished :) Together with my brother I wrote a Happy Easter demo for
my parents, just a simple screen with a scrolling text. I liked drawing with
it, also, and I made some screens with paint programs like Melbourne Draw and
Art Studio.
After the Spectrum we bought an Amiga 500 with a modulator. I started making
music in 1990, using Soundtracker 2.3. I haven´t done a lot of modules
since then, just around 15 if I remember correctly; my main goal was quality,
not quantity. I made also some manga pictures and logos for Boyzout,
and did some coding in Amos (a demo and a DTV presentation for the school).
Now I own an Amiga1200 and, since I am a collector, a Vic20, a C128, a Pet
and a Megadrive.

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

Simply because music gave and still give me the most gratifications.

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

Woah, a lot. Soundtracker 2.3, Noisetracker 2.0 with his greatly useful
finetude option, then came Protracker 1.1B+ which I have used the most. When
I switched to A1200 I began to use Protracker 3.15 (hi Cryptoburners :), I
have written something with MusicLine (powerful but un-user-friendly), then
I fell in love with THX and AHX with his basic synth feel. I will eventually
pass to SoundStudio 1.0, as it`s the only complete 16bit sequencer I own; I
have always hated Octamed (including SoundStudio) for its interface, though
I have always been a PT fan :)

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

Under control, absolutely. I wrote it when I was 15. A 11-minute monster; it
uses all the 64 patterns available in PT (making at the end of the tune some
strange pattern jumps to completely fill all the tracks), uses near all the
pattern positions available, all the samples (from 01 to 1F), all the memory
in my A500 with 0.5M chip and 0.5M fast, and it took me 4 month of work. Not
surprisingly, I made a lot of revisions and it reached version number 1.52 :)
I hope to upload it and some other modules on Aminet, in the future.

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

Hmm... maybe my first ever module? Because it was so primitive? :)

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

In a demo it should be as close as possible to the visuals. It should boost
the atmosfere created by the gfx, it shouldn`t be a distinct, separated
part of the demo. As someone said, "When watching a movie I begin thinking
the musician did a bad work when I realise there is a soundtrack, together
with the film." The same is for demos. The audio and video should be
integrated in a single "block". The same for a game, though it`s more
difficult to syncronise them together. For a good example of a game music,
play Turrican II :)

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

Yes, just for leisure. But I`m planning to expand my setup to go professional.
I would like to try composing music for games.

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

It has become very easy to make music nowadays. Things such mp3 are a very
good thing for composers. I don't like MIDI for its creative limitations, and
his compactness isn`t a much needed feature in these days of fast modems and
huge drives.
For what I have heard, the quality of the compositions is not constant. Very
good pieces of music are still hard to find, as it was in the past.

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

Here is a list in mixed order:

Guitar Slinger by Jogeir Liljedahl
a lot of works from Pink/Abyss and SLL
JagFunk by Nuke/Anarchy
Myonnytyspolska by Dizzy/CNCD
Psychedelic by Julius
Robotron 2 by unknown
Syncerely Yours by Brainbug
Stardust Memories by Jester/Sanity
The Last Star/The last Sun by Frederic Hahn
Tribal serie by Sidewinder
Voices by Bit/Eon
Desert Strike by Jason Whitley
the Agony intros by Sonic projects
a GREAT soundtrack of an unknown game by an unknown author
(I have only the mod and the pirated game with a different name)
Pinball Fantasies by Olof Gustafsson
Shadow of the Beast 2&3 by Tim Wright
... and a bunch of classic SID tunes.

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

Would be a nice idea...

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Few to none. I prefer computer music! Sometimes I listen Jarre, Pet Shop
Boys, Genesis, Depeche Mode, Rondo` Veneziano (do you know it?).

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

Great demos to watch, great music to listen, and a friend :)

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

I`m planning to release an old slideshow from Boyzout, never released
before, although the group is now practically dead.

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

Thanks for your interview! And greetings to my contacts :)

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