Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

.

`n. .rP'

`qb ,dP'

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 · ___________

______dP _____________ \ /

\ ,N'\____ _____________. _____ \ \_____. ____\ /

\___P___/ .\--\__ __/__ |--\____)---\ _____/__ |--\_ \ _/

| | | \ | | \__| | _ \ / | \__| | /\ |

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

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

\/

•

Handle:

•

Group:

•

Date of birth:

1-How did your interest for computers start? Which year was that?

I think it was back in 1979 when my father brought home a BBC Acorn
Electron computer. It had no storage capabilities, so I had to type basic
games from a book in order to play them. Prior to that I had been playing
some magnificent old TV games with paddles - the featured games were
tennis, football, squash and ice hockey. Unfortunately that broke down.

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

My first computer was, as I said, the BBC. I generally played around with
it, it was sooo intriguing. Then, in 1983 I think, I bought a C64. it was
heaven. At first I used it for games, then I started experimenting with
various music software, but I only ended up doing some small hobby tunes.
In 1986 I got my first Amiga, and soon after that, the first Protracker.
Naturally I was thrilled, and spent most of my time in front of the Amiga
doing music. I always wanted some synth equipment, but I couldn't afford it
at the time, so I was content with the Protracker. In 1992 I started
investing in synth equipment and sequenced them from my Amiga 1200 using
Dr. T's KCS. I continued making a handful of modules, just for the fun of
it, but my main interest was in my MIDI equipment.

I backed out of 'the scene' at that time and started working towards an
album. In 1994 I released my first album, together with a friend from the
Amiga days, Jostein Gjelsvik, and another friend of mine. As a grand total
I released 2 full CD's, 2 EP's and loads of compilation albums before
getting rid of my Amiga for good. It simply didn't meet the requirements of
a professional musician, so I had to get myself a PC. It's a shame really,
the Amiga was a fun computer to use, it's a shame both the hardware and the
software was crap. There were no MIDI sequencers anywhere near the
standards of Cubase, no harddisk recording, no realtime effects processing
etc. So I had to switch platform.

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

Simple - I've always been passionate about music. I've always had loads of
ideas I needed to get some sort of output on. Coding was just stupid
numbers, maths, etc. I always hated maths, so I guess the answer is
obvious. Graphics? I never had the interest nor the talent...

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

Today I am using Cubase VST, an integrated MIDI sequencer and harddisk
recorder. It's excellent, it really rules. The possibilities are endless
and they are every musicians dream. I used to work with Protracker and
Soundtracker on the Amiga, but more or less stopped completely once I got
my MIDI gear set up. I actually released much music composed on Dr. T's KCS
before dumping my amiga. On the C64 I played around with a program, I don't
remember what the name was, but it was called something like sound monitor
or something. That's just too long ago to remember...

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

None. Simply because I was never satisfied with the technology. I hated the
fact that I only had 4 sound channels and crap quality. I mean - in my
sequensing today, my rythm tracks alone consist of some 12-20 sounds....
Anyway, the 2 best modules I made were probably a module called Cyber
Christ and one called Acid Jazz or something. They were both done in 1993,
I think. Oh, and perhaps the best of them all, a track called Hufsa's
Trance (1991), which we actually played at a few clubs here in teh city, to
great response. They were done just for fun, really....

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

No. I have many good memories from that time, and no bad memories related
to any of our music. What really pissed me off, though, is that someone
spread a lot of modules that were personal and not meant for release. They
are now on various "module-cd's" around. What annoys me even more is the
blantant disregard the "module community" has for copyrights. These are
actually copyrighted material, protected by international copyright laws,
and if I ever get my hands on the people behind these module collections,
I'll sue their asses off! It's so INCREDIBLY rude and offensive to make
money on other people's work, it really pisses me off.

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

A game with no sound or crap sound is a crap game. Simple as that. Look at
games like Wipeout, for instance. They're really not that special - but the
makers put a lot of effort into making the right sounds and getting
professional musicians to make scores for it, and it turned out to be one
of the monster hits of the 90's.

It's the same for demos, I guess. The only problem is that the programmers
of these demos care more about their size than about the quality of the
music. So you almost always end up with crap music with shitty sounds.
Sounds and effects take up a lot of space - but when used correctly, they
decide whether the game/demo is any good or not. A good example can be
taken from the world of movies. Compare the following 2 sci-fi films -
Alien and Independence Day. Alien was shot on a relatively modest budget -
but the director, Ridley Scott, spent a lot of time adding the right sound
and the right _amount_ of sound, and the film has become a classic and is
actually used by several European film schools as a reference on how to put
sound on films. The other film, Independence day, had loads of expensive
special-fx, cost loads of money and had a crap score and a shitty sound
track. The film sucked big time (as one could expect).

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

Oh yes. And I'll probably never stop. I just released new album under my
current project name, Motion Control, called Digits (Beatservice records)
and I've mastered a couple of albums. I'm not working towards any specific
projects right now, as it's only 3 weeks since my last release... But of
course I'll continue making music. Music is life.

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

MPeg = shite! It's a fantastic way for cheap b"#¤tards to copy music
without paying for it. We've seen in the software industry that several
good pieces of software, and even platforms, have been killed by pirate
copies. MP3's are the perfect way of f"%#ing up the smaller labels, the
ones not selling that much music, but where all the good ideas come from.
Software piracy killed the Amiga platform and forces software companies to
only produce software for the mainstream and for wealthy niche markets. The
same could happen to music... By the way, MP3 quality sucks big time too...

Wave... Of course waveforms are a good format. That's the format of all
your CD's, so you'd better not slag that off :)

MIDI - It's great when used properly - for controlling your own synths with
your own programmed sounds and linked to a high end sequencer. If you're
talking about General Midi (GM), with shitty piano sounds and so on... It's
just plain ridicilous. When I hear a GM tune, I just roll over and laugh
and think about the poor people actually wasting their time on such crap....

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

No. I can, however, list a few, more recent, good albums. A good album
should consist of only great tunes or pieces of music, so you'll find some
very good stuff if you give these few albums a spin:

KLF - Chill Out
Paperclip People - Secret tapes of Dr. Eich
Plastikman - Musik
Biosphere - Patashnik
Kenny Larkin - Metaphor
Autechre - Amber
Maurizio - M CD
Motor Bass - Pansoul

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

Nope. All my new music is being digitally mastered (by me) in a fully
digital studio. There's no point in releasing old stuff when you can make
new music instead...

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Take a look at the albums above for some clues....

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

does? nothing. did? Some good memories, loads of shite memories...

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

No. Haven't been for many years...

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

Well, 'the scene' used to be a friendly place, back in the 80's. Now it
seems like a few dickheads ruined it for all decent people involved. A very
close friend of mine, U4ia (hi Jim) got so badly ripped off by some
shitheads that he stopped making music. There are several hundred of his
modules being copied and sold - the b"#%ards doing this take all the money
and they don't care that he's not getting a single penny from it.

'the scene' used to be a place for friendly stuff - when I backed out of
it, it was already becoming money oriented and hostile and filled with
shitheads. I remember a year or so ago I saw a text file accompanying a
game, pirated of course. The assholes who had written it, and 'cracked'
the game wanted members for their group. They were interested in people who
could supply CPU's, harddrives, 3dfx cards etc. How can anyone be that
stupid? First, they steal other people's hard work by selling copyrighted
material - then they want gullible idiots to send them hardware so that
they can join the same group? Argh! I can't believe anyone in their right
mind would do such a thing. I'm really glad I backed out many years ago,
before things got too bad.... this 'scene' has in effect killed itself and
become yet another place where money rules....

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

Quick Search

Random link

Database Stats

Interview