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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| _| | | _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?

I remember my best friend calling me on the phone one day. He had just bought
a Commodore 64. I immidiately went to visit him and we spent the whole evening
(eventhough it was schoolnight) playing all those cool games. Impressive
graphics and sound!! I think this was back in 1985-1986..

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

Commodore 64, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, PC 486 66MHz DX-2, PC Pentium II, PC
AMD K6-3, Macintosh computer, PC AMD Duron.. I have still got 2 C-64s and
the amiga's. I have also a PC (AMD Athlon).

The Commodore 64 was in the start for gaming only but I picked up an interest
for basic and some assembly pretty soon. A friend of mine tough me have to code
sprites, and we made a huge role playing game which could have been great if we
hadn't used that much time in the intro.. =)
We spent almost a month making an intro with sprites etc. and the game ended up
as a flop..

The Amiga had great opportunities and I started making some music with the
early trackers. I did not code that much. Gaming was also something I spent
a lot of time doing.

The PC's where most of all for gaming. I still used the Amiga, but mostly for
music and some assembly coding.

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

Well.. I started playing a guitar when I was 7 years old. I went to a music
school until I was 16. I have always liked music and making music was a natural
choice. Later on I tried out some coding which I have sticked with today
(working as a software engineer).

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

Mostly protracker and fasttracker on PC.

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

I must honestly say that I never felt that I reached my goal. I have always been
where demanding towards myself. I was depressed a lot when I was younger.. Well
nothing seriously.. but I always thought that other people was greater than me
and I may have set a lot of unreachable goals for myself. A lot of my modules
were never released just because of that.. When time went by I have looked back
on them and said to myself.. "hmm.. They weren't as bad as I though... Why did
I not release this tunes.. well now they are bad, anyway =)"

I have played in a band later on and I reached some of my goals there on stage..
It was a wonderful time =)

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

No one in particular.. I was a bit embarresed though when I was caught using
some elses intruments once without any credits.. All the instruments + the
names where in the same position in the tracker and I remember even that the
name of the originator was in there.. I got a comment once on that..

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

Well.. for our coder it was worth 20%. I remember winning with the demo Wayfarer
on the Gathering and our main coder 'Lone Starr' gave me and Vinnie 20% of the
winners fee. Or was it more? Well.. I think that the music is very important.
I love it when the music/sound effects are synchronized to back up the
graphics/code so that the demo/game really takes you..
Like in our Smurph demo.. ha ha ha

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

No, I haven't made a tune since the Smurph demo. I wish to sit down one day
and try some tracking again though.. I am trying to play some guitar though..

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

I like all kinds of music.. I do not want to dismiss a certain type of music
just like that. Todays music or shall I say formats gives the composer a much
greater room for music making. More instruments simultaniously and better
quality. This may make it harder for a newcomer to make it to the top because
of all the options and all the other people that are extremely good. But you
can also contribute with real music now so that probably makes it easier too..
I think it was a bit funnier in the past because we always had too push the
limits.. Now there aren't any limits any more.

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

Well.. I do not have any special tune in mind, but the following composers
were really an inspiration: Jogeir Liljedahl, 4-mat, Mantronix, Audiomonster,
Supernao and a lot of the finnish guys making polka modules =)

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

No, I have not. Maybe when I'm older and the kids have moved out. Maybe I could
refresh some of the tunes then.. =)

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

A lot.. My all time favorites are: Eloy (german progressive rock! Fabolous!),
Ozric Tentacles (English underground great!), Metallica, the Cure, Fish and
Marillion!!

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

It introduced me to a childhood without interacting with other people. I was
socially lost.. =) No, just kidding.. I learned a lot about computers that
time.. I was always curious and I always find a way to solve any problem with
computers now a days because of that. I also met a lot of great guys (and one
girl in Finland!) during the scene days. I had a lot of great demoparties and
I would exchange this for anything.. well maybe my collection of cartoon series
I sold to afford the party in Samsoe Denmark.. =( It gave me good friends
which I still have contact with. It gave me a career later on.. It gave me a
lot of fun!

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

No, I cant say that I am. I always hope to get the time. Work, girlfriend, two
small boys and a house does not leave much time I am afraid. Useless/Spaceballs
is asking me from time to time and I still is positioned on the active members
on our website.. So I am a wannabe active.. =)

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

I wish the greet all the members of Spaceballs who I would love to meet again
soon. I also wish to inform everybody of the great company I am working for..
so if anyone needs any assistance for any software product (mainly telecom,
network management), please visit: www.morecom.no. Please visit the Spaceballs
website too! Well bye!

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2005 by crown of cryptoburners
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