Nicolas Flandin (France)
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RockABIT: Why making music on Soundchips?
It's part of doing stuffs with the ATARI. I bought my 1st PC in 2k2, got the internet and found Steem which brought back so many good memories! I started playing around with DCK and Megatizer, providing NoExtra some easy to play material, which I still do and enjoy. I met MJJ Prod at VIP (Popsy team), being the place to go for a while each year to meet again and who knows, do things.
Kidstory was first shown there, everybody around the STe monitor, TobÈ talking about dividing at zero cost. Was great to do this demo soundtrack, chewing a 6+ min tune into a 2.30 demo soundtrack ...very first steps with MusicMon. I then switched to MaxYmiser, so polyvalent and demo friendly. Also, doing MUDA/Live! tune was a cool experience, I was given demo effects as soon as they were done, so I had a better feeling and time to chat with ukko about what would fit best when, the demo is pretty good imho. Fun and friendship is what makes me do stick to the ym2149.
RockABIT: Describe your way of creating an YM2149 chiptune…
I start from scratch or reuse basic sounds of an old file, square, drums and bass, and play with the keyboard until I find something to elaborate on. It often involves many changes and cuts in the tune or the instruments, and when I've got time I try to polish the patterns and sounds to my personal taste. MaxYmiser allows that extra beatbox track with the DMA samples for almost 0 cputime, which I really like, and you can choose every now and then if the tune uses timer or not, which is cool for NoExtra and the few things I've done with GFA Basic. Now that my Atari is "cosmosexed" i often work on the STE then spend time listening on the laptop. Yeah, i spend more time listening to looping patterns than creating them - haha! Some experimental sessions end in the trashcan too!
RockABIT: Your greatest achievement in Sound programming on the ST?
All I do is play with chiptrackers, there's no programming in there. I still haven't found the sounds that would fit me best, and maybe I lack patience to find them. Each tune is kind of an achievement for me tho, finding cool oldschool sounds with megatizer and understanding that melody wasn't something i could be good at, discovering new sounds to me with musicmon, sids, buzzers, drums, playing with values to get some weird sounds like in kidstory, YM out and chipventure. MaxYMiser possibilities are so numerous that it's not rare that I get a crash while entering some values! Still many methods and experiments to try...
RockABIT: Which chiptune (any system) is special for you and why?
Andropolis by Dane (c64) comes immediately in my mind. The first part is bloody awesome, the rhythm kills me and the sounds ... wow!
Bloody good newschool tune and still soundchip. Was it intended or rushed in the end? Don't know, but I really fell in love with that one.
RockABIT: Where did your musical Influences came from?
Pop, Rock, Blues, Electro, Soundchip ...
RockABIT: Life with 80s Homecomputer was…
A dream ... but already too expensive for me at that time.
RockABIT: Does your Demoscene experience have an effect on your Life today?
I've never been into the demoscene until I did the kidstory soundtrack, so I'm experiencing it now. Again, it's fun and friendship, because, you know: Life is a bitch ;)
RockABIT: What do you think about the actual retro-phenomenon?
Nothing.
RockABIT: When you listen to Chipmusic nowadays…
It's so much better than listening to the radio (which I don't). I often browse the sndh archive, listen to other platforms chip music when watching demos, but I stick to YM2149. I'd love to hear new Stu and Crazy Q tunes. Tao, Ultrasyd and !Cube are the ones that are played most often here.
RockABIT: Are you still composing? Any plans?
It depends on what Life will bring me this year, but i've got some new patterns and i'd also like to get back into programming a bit.
There's this 90-percent finished game i started 7yrs ago with Heavy Stylus/RGCD featuring gorgeous gfx and cool pieces of sound by stu and Dma-Sc ...
RockABIT: Your creations are full of unusual voice-tunings on the ym-chip. Especially on the sheep'n chip piece it's hard to dinstinguish between samples and chipsound. What was your approach on "LTC8 sheep'n chip"?
LTC stands for learning to chip. Sheep 'n chip is a wink to MadMax as there ain't any sheep in outer mongolia. I was tired of not managing to do something that sounds like the tunes I like, so I reproduced MadMax song with maxYmiser, hoping that would help me understand how to compose nice chiptunes. So the intro uses the same echoing and bass method. Unfortunately, as always, I couldn't help but go my way and twist those syncbuzzers. For this tune, experimental and composing sessions were one. I even tried to play a bit with the LMC 1992, but was not that happy with the result. The only samples I've used until now are drum samples - I pick them from a floppy XiA released. It's harder for me to bring the instrument to the sound that would please me and then control it like I remember it being in MusicMon! So I'm still learning to chip on that side too.
RockABIT: Speak a little bit about you. Age, habbits, Life, ... what you want.
"GREETZ TO GGN, GWEM, ULTRASYD, DMA SC, DHS, MJJ, HEMOROIDS, ARKLIF, PEOPLE I MET AT OUTLINE AND VIP, GRAZEY, LOTEK, 505, SPKR, MODMATE, UKKO, LONNY PURSELL AND EVERYONE DOING THINGS ON THE ST !" /|\
RockABIT: Thank you very much for your time and good luck for every of your forthcoming projects!
It's part of doing stuffs with the ATARI. I bought my 1st PC in 2k2, got the internet and found Steem which brought back so many good memories! I started playing around with DCK and Megatizer, providing NoExtra some easy to play material, which I still do and enjoy. I met MJJ Prod at VIP (Popsy team), being the place to go for a while each year to meet again and who knows, do things.
Kidstory was first shown there, everybody around the STe monitor, TobÈ talking about dividing at zero cost. Was great to do this demo soundtrack, chewing a 6+ min tune into a 2.30 demo soundtrack ...very first steps with MusicMon. I then switched to MaxYmiser, so polyvalent and demo friendly. Also, doing MUDA/Live! tune was a cool experience, I was given demo effects as soon as they were done, so I had a better feeling and time to chat with ukko about what would fit best when, the demo is pretty good imho. Fun and friendship is what makes me do stick to the ym2149.
RockABIT: Describe your way of creating an YM2149 chiptune…
I start from scratch or reuse basic sounds of an old file, square, drums and bass, and play with the keyboard until I find something to elaborate on. It often involves many changes and cuts in the tune or the instruments, and when I've got time I try to polish the patterns and sounds to my personal taste. MaxYmiser allows that extra beatbox track with the DMA samples for almost 0 cputime, which I really like, and you can choose every now and then if the tune uses timer or not, which is cool for NoExtra and the few things I've done with GFA Basic. Now that my Atari is "cosmosexed" i often work on the STE then spend time listening on the laptop. Yeah, i spend more time listening to looping patterns than creating them - haha! Some experimental sessions end in the trashcan too!
RockABIT: Your greatest achievement in Sound programming on the ST?
All I do is play with chiptrackers, there's no programming in there. I still haven't found the sounds that would fit me best, and maybe I lack patience to find them. Each tune is kind of an achievement for me tho, finding cool oldschool sounds with megatizer and understanding that melody wasn't something i could be good at, discovering new sounds to me with musicmon, sids, buzzers, drums, playing with values to get some weird sounds like in kidstory, YM out and chipventure. MaxYMiser possibilities are so numerous that it's not rare that I get a crash while entering some values! Still many methods and experiments to try...
RockABIT: Which chiptune (any system) is special for you and why?
Andropolis by Dane (c64) comes immediately in my mind. The first part is bloody awesome, the rhythm kills me and the sounds ... wow!
Bloody good newschool tune and still soundchip. Was it intended or rushed in the end? Don't know, but I really fell in love with that one.
RockABIT: Where did your musical Influences came from?
Pop, Rock, Blues, Electro, Soundchip ...
RockABIT: Life with 80s Homecomputer was…
A dream ... but already too expensive for me at that time.
RockABIT: Does your Demoscene experience have an effect on your Life today?
I've never been into the demoscene until I did the kidstory soundtrack, so I'm experiencing it now. Again, it's fun and friendship, because, you know: Life is a bitch ;)
RockABIT: What do you think about the actual retro-phenomenon?
Nothing.
RockABIT: When you listen to Chipmusic nowadays…
It's so much better than listening to the radio (which I don't). I often browse the sndh archive, listen to other platforms chip music when watching demos, but I stick to YM2149. I'd love to hear new Stu and Crazy Q tunes. Tao, Ultrasyd and !Cube are the ones that are played most often here.
RockABIT: Are you still composing? Any plans?
It depends on what Life will bring me this year, but i've got some new patterns and i'd also like to get back into programming a bit.
There's this 90-percent finished game i started 7yrs ago with Heavy Stylus/RGCD featuring gorgeous gfx and cool pieces of sound by stu and Dma-Sc ...
RockABIT: Your creations are full of unusual voice-tunings on the ym-chip. Especially on the sheep'n chip piece it's hard to dinstinguish between samples and chipsound. What was your approach on "LTC8 sheep'n chip"?
LTC stands for learning to chip. Sheep 'n chip is a wink to MadMax as there ain't any sheep in outer mongolia. I was tired of not managing to do something that sounds like the tunes I like, so I reproduced MadMax song with maxYmiser, hoping that would help me understand how to compose nice chiptunes. So the intro uses the same echoing and bass method. Unfortunately, as always, I couldn't help but go my way and twist those syncbuzzers. For this tune, experimental and composing sessions were one. I even tried to play a bit with the LMC 1992, but was not that happy with the result. The only samples I've used until now are drum samples - I pick them from a floppy XiA released. It's harder for me to bring the instrument to the sound that would please me and then control it like I remember it being in MusicMon! So I'm still learning to chip on that side too.
RockABIT: Speak a little bit about you. Age, habbits, Life, ... what you want.
"GREETZ TO GGN, GWEM, ULTRASYD, DMA SC, DHS, MJJ, HEMOROIDS, ARKLIF, PEOPLE I MET AT OUTLINE AND VIP, GRAZEY, LOTEK, 505, SPKR, MODMATE, UKKO, LONNY PURSELL AND EVERYONE DOING THINGS ON THE ST !" /|\
RockABIT: Thank you very much for your time and good luck for every of your forthcoming projects!