Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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`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.

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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 suppose around 1983 or 84.. I played around on my cousin's C64..
Reading manuals, programming simple phone # databases, etc... I
wanted a C64, but my dad thought that since Coleco Adam was just
100USD, that's a better choice.. Needless to say I didn't do much with
it but play games. :) When I got a C64 after my dad realized the Adam
was a shit, he bought me a C64.. then it just got started really..
Can't remember much, but I did lotsa cover tunes in C64, and started
composing when I got my Amiga in 1993.

The same cousin (who is also known as Cygnus of www.amigascne.org) had bought
an Amiga 3000T in late 1992. We both had been very interested in demos, from
the C64 scene as well, as there actually were demo groups in Baltimore (as
well as some OTHER kind of groups .. haha) Basically I fell in love with the
Amiga. It was SOO much nicer than that Windows 3.1-based piece of shit my mom
had ;) and I just had to get one, so I asked for an Amiga 4000 for christmas,
because I had by then been subscribed to some Amiga magazines, and heard about
AGA chipset, which I felt I'd be missin out on if I didn't get it.

At first I kinda digressed about the lack of flickerfixer in the A4000. This
became a life-long journey to try to find one, and now in 2002 if I can
actually get the damn order to go through, I will have one and a scandoubler
in one that's INTERNAL ! woohoo ;)

Basically, my dad took a while to get me the Amiga, so I fooled around on
Cygnus' which ironically was placed next to his father's Workbench :)

One of my immediate interests was of course music, and when he played me some
mods, I was hooked. I downloaded OctaMED v1 and started just messing around
on it. Made my first tune on his Amiga.

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

Coleco Adam - played games
C64 - program, bbs, qlink, music, gfx, games, watch demos, hack/phreak;).
C128 - same thing but with an additional 40 columns(!)
Amiga 4000 - music composing, gfx, web design, games, irc, blabla.
P233MMX - music, gfx, web design, irc, www, etc.. now it's my server.
AMD550-K6-2 - same as above but now it's gone (it's not a server obv.)
AMD Athlon 850 - same as above, now it is sold to someone else
AMD Thunderbird 850 - gfx, web design, irc, www, etc. *no music*
Sun Sparc IPX - server stuff, etc..
AMD Thunderbird 1.133GHz - music..

I still have all these machines, but the C64/128 isn't working anymore, or
at least isn't in use.

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

Well I actually do all three :P well.. I don't code demos.. I didn't really
do gfx for just doin gfx til recently. I've been really interested in music
my entire life.. i've just always felt it inside. i pick things up fast..
about the only other things i pick up as fast are technical things like
computers, but i pick up music stuff even faster than that, like theory and
ear training (which is miraculous to me coz I'm scared shitless of ear
training :D)

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

Octamed, Octamed Sound Studio.. This is what I used on Amiga exclusively to
make modules, and also do mp3 music with midi+samples. Now I use Logic Audio
on a Athlon/Thunderbird 1.133GHZ system. I'm gonna start usin DigiboosterPro
quite soonish on my Amiga.

I guess I used Linux for like 4 years or something on
various of my computers, because I cannot stand Windows 9x/NT .. such a
shit os. and haviung to deal with it at work doesn't help. When Windows 2000
came out, I started using that as a desktop OS, coz unfortunately the apps I
need to be creative aren't avail for Linux. I used the Linux Soundtracker to
make a mod once, but half the player commands weren't implemented, etc... I
understand devel-software, but can't be creative if you don't have the tools
(bottom line).. I ran Logic 4.6 on the 1.13GHz machine for a while with
Win98, and just recently I got 4.81 which runs on Windows 2000, so you better
believe I trashed that 98 shit and put Windows 2000 on there :D

I will note I prefer Linux much much much more as an OS and if all the apps
were on it (Flash, Photoshop, Logic, IE, etc.) I wouldn't be using Windows, I
can assure you of that !! :)

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

I just like making music, and love music in general. it's like it envelopes
me.. It's always comin out of me whether inside my head or vocalised somehow.

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

I'm not gonna say .. because hopefully no one has it anymore.. but I can tell
you the reason .. :) coz it's pure shit.. actually, there's a lot like that.
I don't delete 'em tho.

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

i suppose without music things would be pretty boring. it would be like
having a movie without a score. imagine a scene with no dialogue that had no
music or sound. i would demand my money back!

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

yes. right now just leisure.

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

MP3's are great for listening to music. I rip all my CD's to mp3, and
hopefully someday I might have everything I have on vinyl in mp3.. Wav format
is good to use to master stuff in. I don't trust mp3's for masters, not even
at 320kbps. I don't like a lot of things about how midi works, and lack of a
3xx cmd but whatever. it's somethin you have to deal with if you aren't usin
a tracker, and i hate things like SF acid. say no to loop-toys.

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

probably some tunes by jogeir liljedahl and yolk/cncd, also supernao.. I
guess yer talkin bout scene tunes :P stuff by dizzy/cncd and azazel/tbl also
rules.

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

there's always cd-r's.. they come and go. none of my mods though. there's
only one mod which I remastered as mp3.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

bands :D argh. i hate this question.. i listen to what i listen to. mostly
chillout electronic stuff. I listen to a lot of classical music too. It
depends on what mood I'm in.

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

gives me a place, i dunno.. nowadays it's mostly about friendship music and
record labels for me. the scene doesn't seem as interesting as it used to be.
i just irc, make music, exchange it. there's still demos and some of them ARE
good. the scene I think needs to change a bit.. 3D is so passe, especially
with geforce3's if it's all hardware accelerated, that's bs. 3D is no longer
impressive. ESPECIALLY on the PC side of things. Tunnels, floating through
landscapes, rotating 3D objects, morphing 3D objects. Some believe the limits
that are being pushed in demos nowadays are artistic ones instead of technical
ones.

how ever.. it's a lovely place. I've met some of the best friends I've had in
here, and it still comprises of most of the people I find myself completely...
uh.. in sync with. it also indirectly introduced me to great things like
aphex twin, autechre, and great non-scene electronic music, and lets not forget
the great C64 musicians, and Jean Michel Jarre. :)

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

sorta. if you call irc'ing being active :D ..I guess I am.. I still produce
things, but I'm not in a group currently.

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

old amigascene pals: cygnus, substance, azazel, yolk, legend, tjm, supernao,
buzz, dizzy, andy, *dsx design* (where are you now?), i-go, distance, blast,
thp, juice, teis, linus, 4t thieves, hotwire, h0llyw00d, balrog, and the
rest....

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