Frank Seemann (Germany)
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RockABIT: Why making music on Soundchips?
Computer music was a part of the soundtrack of my youth. It was all around when we were playing games on Atari 2600, Atari XL and C64. At some point i wanted to try myself and started coding. Chipmusic is very much about exceeding boundaries. Coders as well as composers evolve a lot of creativity to develop noises and composing techniques upon these limitations. I really like that.
RockABIT: Describe your way of creating an YM2149 chiptune…
My main motivation was always to show some new tricks and create interesting noises. So i usually try so find something i haven't done before, maybe some little adjustments in my player, not necessarily groundbreaking. From time to time i add some new lines of code to my player and see what's happening. Sometimes i just play some patterns to save an idea which might be finished later. But there is no real composing technique, just inspiration. Sometimes a noise, a bassline or some chords and at some point the song starts growing by itself.
RockABIT: Your greatest achievement in Sound programming on the ST?
Syncbuzzer, i think. The idea for this technique came to my mind when we were working on PlaySid for Atari. It is inspired by the hard sync effect and was not too complicated to implement. I just needed to modify the classic sidvoice effect a little bit and add some parameters to my player to create modulations and effects. The SID soundchip was also inspiring me to use 200Hz replay to allow some additional finetunig for my instruments and create drums which sound a little bit like the original ones by Rob Hubbard or the Maniacs of Noise.
RockABIT: Which chiptune (any system) is special for you and why?
I remember spending some time analysing Rob Hubbard's "Zoolook", being amazed by the intelligent way he filled every possible gap to achieve a marvellous conversion of the original song.
RockABIT: Where did your musical Influences came from?
In the 90s i was more into Classic/Progressive Rock and some Hip Hop. I don't know if that affected my way of composing chipmusic. I think the classic chipmusic pioneers like Hubbard, Galway, Whittaker might have been a greater influence.
RockABIT: Life with 80s Homecomputer was…
Magic.
RockABIT: Does your Demoscene experience have an effect on your Life today?
Absolutely. I learned programming and the basics of computers in general, graphics, audio and it feels more
natural as if i had to learn it from books. The spirit of optimising solutions as much as possible is a valuable
guide both in my profession as well as in my personal life.
RockABIT: What do you think about the actual retro-phenomenon?
I'm sure we're not talking about the people who are retro for fashion's sake. I really like it, when people are interested in old technology and try to get a feeling of what it is like to handle it. In our chipmusic project "YM Rockerz" we always try to have new people who bring some freshness, what i really like a lot. I also appreciate the work of the enthusiasts who preserve what we all have produced over the years and make it accessible to succeeding generations.
RockABIT: When you listen to Chipmusic nowadays…
It feels good. It is not only about the good old times, i love the sound, the compositions. Chipmusic is Soul.
RockABIT: Has your way of composing changed over time and why?
Maybe the fact that i do not have that much time anymore to dig into chipmusic requires me to be more effective and focused. It was easier in the early days.
RockABIT: Are you still composing? Any plans?
Not very much. But from time to time there are some requests or invitations to contribute to party competitions or to our YM Rockerz project. So there might be some reason for me to do more tunes in the future.
RockABIT: You are the creator of the very special TSD-Format on the ST. What is that for?
When we finished PlaySid we had a SID emulation and it was only logical to put my modified chipsound player on top of it to play 'real' SID music. This is how the digi songs for ...do things were done. TSD is pure songdata and requires a player to be replayed.
Computer music was a part of the soundtrack of my youth. It was all around when we were playing games on Atari 2600, Atari XL and C64. At some point i wanted to try myself and started coding. Chipmusic is very much about exceeding boundaries. Coders as well as composers evolve a lot of creativity to develop noises and composing techniques upon these limitations. I really like that.
RockABIT: Describe your way of creating an YM2149 chiptune…
My main motivation was always to show some new tricks and create interesting noises. So i usually try so find something i haven't done before, maybe some little adjustments in my player, not necessarily groundbreaking. From time to time i add some new lines of code to my player and see what's happening. Sometimes i just play some patterns to save an idea which might be finished later. But there is no real composing technique, just inspiration. Sometimes a noise, a bassline or some chords and at some point the song starts growing by itself.
RockABIT: Your greatest achievement in Sound programming on the ST?
Syncbuzzer, i think. The idea for this technique came to my mind when we were working on PlaySid for Atari. It is inspired by the hard sync effect and was not too complicated to implement. I just needed to modify the classic sidvoice effect a little bit and add some parameters to my player to create modulations and effects. The SID soundchip was also inspiring me to use 200Hz replay to allow some additional finetunig for my instruments and create drums which sound a little bit like the original ones by Rob Hubbard or the Maniacs of Noise.
RockABIT: Which chiptune (any system) is special for you and why?
I remember spending some time analysing Rob Hubbard's "Zoolook", being amazed by the intelligent way he filled every possible gap to achieve a marvellous conversion of the original song.
RockABIT: Where did your musical Influences came from?
In the 90s i was more into Classic/Progressive Rock and some Hip Hop. I don't know if that affected my way of composing chipmusic. I think the classic chipmusic pioneers like Hubbard, Galway, Whittaker might have been a greater influence.
RockABIT: Life with 80s Homecomputer was…
Magic.
RockABIT: Does your Demoscene experience have an effect on your Life today?
Absolutely. I learned programming and the basics of computers in general, graphics, audio and it feels more
natural as if i had to learn it from books. The spirit of optimising solutions as much as possible is a valuable
guide both in my profession as well as in my personal life.
RockABIT: What do you think about the actual retro-phenomenon?
I'm sure we're not talking about the people who are retro for fashion's sake. I really like it, when people are interested in old technology and try to get a feeling of what it is like to handle it. In our chipmusic project "YM Rockerz" we always try to have new people who bring some freshness, what i really like a lot. I also appreciate the work of the enthusiasts who preserve what we all have produced over the years and make it accessible to succeeding generations.
RockABIT: When you listen to Chipmusic nowadays…
It feels good. It is not only about the good old times, i love the sound, the compositions. Chipmusic is Soul.
RockABIT: Has your way of composing changed over time and why?
Maybe the fact that i do not have that much time anymore to dig into chipmusic requires me to be more effective and focused. It was easier in the early days.
RockABIT: Are you still composing? Any plans?
Not very much. But from time to time there are some requests or invitations to contribute to party competitions or to our YM Rockerz project. So there might be some reason for me to do more tunes in the future.
RockABIT: You are the creator of the very special TSD-Format on the ST. What is that for?
When we finished PlaySid we had a SID emulation and it was only logical to put my modified chipsound player on top of it to play 'real' SID music. This is how the digi songs for ...do things were done. TSD is pure songdata and requires a player to be replayed.
RockABIT: You put together a Chipsound-Tracker called ‚Magic Synth‘. Which extended capabilities (tools) are built into it?
The editor is a tool initially intended for my own use and so it might lack too much functionality to call it sophisticated nowadays. E.g. i still need a separate converter to create a compact SNDH-compatible music file. It offers basic functionality to edit song-data and instruments, some help information here and there. Some mentionable features might be:
- Sidsound with adjustable depth ('SoftSID')
- Syncbuzzer
- Single-voice echo/reverb-effect
- 8/16 bytes lentgh editable waveforms
Early versions offered sample replay, which i used for some time but i excluded that functionality. Not, because samples are bad, i just somehow preferred the concept of creating realtime effects manually in the editor.
RockABIT: Is there a piece of music you want to mention, which uses one or more of the Magic Synth techniques in a particularly creative way?
In my player i am using a technique to play small waveforms, which i called "sine-wave" in my early days. It is not limited to sine waves. And in a little moment of inspiration i used it to create classic "Pokey-Noise" from the Atari XL. You can hear these noises in "Breath 2000".
Will you go on improving Magic Synth someday or is anything achieved?
There are no plans, but i might. From time to time i add some slight improvements here and there.
Any advice to a newbie in chip composing?
Basically not. I see new people doing awesome stuff using the full capabilities of modern editors. This is great. Maybe it is worth a try to experience the beauty of raw chipmusic, 50Hz, no timers and samples.
RockABIT: Speak a little bit about you. Age, habbits, Life, ... what you want.
I'm in my mid-fourties, living in Hamburg and i am working for an IT-company here. When i'm not busy with family-stuff i try to enjoy life
together with my girlfriend, travelling, cycling, hiking. And from time to time i keep having a look at the demoscene.
RockABIT: Thank you very much for your time and good luck for every of your forthcoming projects!
The editor is a tool initially intended for my own use and so it might lack too much functionality to call it sophisticated nowadays. E.g. i still need a separate converter to create a compact SNDH-compatible music file. It offers basic functionality to edit song-data and instruments, some help information here and there. Some mentionable features might be:
- Sidsound with adjustable depth ('SoftSID')
- Syncbuzzer
- Single-voice echo/reverb-effect
- 8/16 bytes lentgh editable waveforms
Early versions offered sample replay, which i used for some time but i excluded that functionality. Not, because samples are bad, i just somehow preferred the concept of creating realtime effects manually in the editor.
RockABIT: Is there a piece of music you want to mention, which uses one or more of the Magic Synth techniques in a particularly creative way?
In my player i am using a technique to play small waveforms, which i called "sine-wave" in my early days. It is not limited to sine waves. And in a little moment of inspiration i used it to create classic "Pokey-Noise" from the Atari XL. You can hear these noises in "Breath 2000".
Will you go on improving Magic Synth someday or is anything achieved?
There are no plans, but i might. From time to time i add some slight improvements here and there.
Any advice to a newbie in chip composing?
Basically not. I see new people doing awesome stuff using the full capabilities of modern editors. This is great. Maybe it is worth a try to experience the beauty of raw chipmusic, 50Hz, no timers and samples.
RockABIT: Speak a little bit about you. Age, habbits, Life, ... what you want.
I'm in my mid-fourties, living in Hamburg and i am working for an IT-company here. When i'm not busy with family-stuff i try to enjoy life
together with my girlfriend, travelling, cycling, hiking. And from time to time i keep having a look at the demoscene.
RockABIT: Thank you very much for your time and good luck for every of your forthcoming projects!