DF Retro Direct: Chris Huelsbeck Interview - Star Wars, Factor 5, Turrican and more!
Summary
TLDRIn this exclusive interview, John Linderman of Direct Feedback hosts renowned video game composer Chris Huelsbeck, delving into his illustrious career and the evolution of sound in gaming. Huelsbeck shares insights on his work with classic systems like the Commodore 64 and Amiga, discussing the technical challenges and creative process behind iconic soundtracks. From the innovative '7 channel trick' on the Amiga to composing for the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive, he highlights the unique sonic characteristics of each platform. The conversation also touches on his recent Kickstarter projects, including an orchestral rendition of his game music and his Patreon, offering fans royalty-free access to his compositions. Huelsbeck's passion for creating memorable game soundtracks shines through, as he recounts the excitement of pushing the boundaries of early gaming hardware and the enduring legacy of his work.
Takeaways
- 🎵 Chris Huelsbeck, a legendary composer, discusses his work on various sound projects and shares his experiences with different gaming platforms.
- 🔧 Chris recently completed a Kickstarter project, recreating an Amiga soundtrack using the original hardware and tools, which presented challenges due to the limitations of the technology.
- 🎼 He faced difficulties in replicating the process of creating soundtracks from his early career, such as the one for 'The Kick Off', due to the constraints of the original hardware and his own evolution as a creator.
- 📀 Chris has been involved in producing music for vinyl and CD packs, including an orchestral selection from his work on 'Tarkin', showcasing a live orchestra rendition of his game music.
- 🤝 He credits his friend Audie Surly for helping set up the interview and discusses his work on the game 'Bubsy', which is a favorite among fans.
- 🎮 Chris has worked across a wide range of consoles, from the Commodore 64 to the PlayStation 3, with a notable contribution to the 'Resident Evil 2' conversion on Nintendo 64.
- 🛠 The Nintendo 64's lack of a dedicated sound chip was a hurdle Chris had to overcome, requiring him to mix audio on the CPU and balance sound quality with memory constraints.
- 🎵 He composed original music for the 'Rogue Squadron' series on Nintendo 64, in addition to using John Williams' iconic Star Wars tracks, contributing to the game's immersive audio experience.
- 🔄 The transition from cartridge-based storage to CD-ROMs, like the one used in PlayStation, allowed for a shift from synthesized music to Redbook audio, providing more freedom but also changing the creative challenge.
- 💻 Chris has embraced the digital audio workstation (DAW) revolution, moving from a traditional hardware-based studio to a fully virtual setup on his laptop, reflecting the broader industry shift towards software-based music production.
- 🌟 His work on the 'Turrican' series stands out as a personal favorite, as it allowed him to fully express his musical vision and create a lasting impact on fans of the genre.
Q & A
Who is the special guest featured in the video?
-The special guest is Chris Hülsbeck, a legendary figure known for his work on sound projects.
What was Chris Hülsbeck's last game project before the interview?
-Chris Hülsbeck's last game project was 'Popeye: The Bully Strike Back' over a year prior to the interview.
What Kickstarter project did Chris Hülsbeck complete after finishing his last game?
-Chris completed a Kickstarter project where he created a full new Amiga soundtrack as a bonus, using the original hardware and tools.
What challenges did Chris Hülsbeck face when creating the Amiga soundtrack for the Kickstarter project?
-He faced challenges such as the increased difficulty of working with the original hardware and tools, as well as the time it took to create the soundtrack, which was over a year.
What is the significance of the 'Tarkin Orchestral Selections' mentioned in the interview?
-The 'Tarkin Orchestral Selections' is a vinyl CD pack featuring orchestral renditions of music from the game, which was a part of Chris Hülsbeck's second orchestral Kickstarter project.
How does Chris Hülsbeck describe his experience working with the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers?
-Chris describes his experience as challenging and rewarding, noting that the TF-X system he developed on the Commodore 64 was also used on other platforms like the Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive.
What was unique about the approach Chris Hülsbeck took for the music in 'Rogue Squadron' on Nintendo 64?
-Chris had to work within the memory limitations of the Nintendo 64 cartridge and craft samples to fit within those constraints, leading to a balance between sound quality and memory usage.
What is Patreon and how does Chris Hülsbeck utilize it?
-Patreon is a crowdfunding platform for ongoing projects. Chris uses it to release one music piece a month for his fans, who can support him with a small monthly fee.
What was Chris Hülsbeck's involvement in the 'Indiana Jones' project by Factor 5?
-Chris worked on the music for 'Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine' on the Nintendo 64, creating tracks that were a challenge to squeeze into the limited space of the system's sound capabilities.
What is the '7 channel trick' Chris Hülsbeck mentions in relation to the Amiga?
-The '7 channel trick' is a technique Chris used on the Amiga to mix two sample channels onto each of the four Amiga channels, effectively creating seven channels of sound, which was showcased in the game 'Turrican'.
What was Chris Hülsbeck's first paid gig in game music?
-Chris's first paid gig was working on the music for the game 'Giana Sisters' for Rainbow Arts.
How did Chris Hülsbeck transition from hardware to fully virtual studio technology?
-Chris transitioned to fully virtual studio technology by 2006-2007, after recognizing the potential of virtual studio technology (VST) and eventually selling all his hardware to work solely on his laptop.
What is Chris Hülsbeck's favorite synthesizer?
-Chris's favorite synthesizer is the Yamaha DX1, which he describes as having a special place in his heart.
Outlines
🎙️ Interview with Sound Designer Chris Huelsbeck
In this introductory segment, John Linderman of Direct Feed Games interviews Chris Huelsbeck, a renowned sound designer, discussing his past projects and the evolution of sound in gaming. Huelsbeck shares his recent work on 'Pop Seed' and his Kickstarter project, which involved recreating an Amiga soundtrack using original hardware and tools. He also mentions the challenges of working within the limitations of older technology and the nostalgia of revisiting his roots in sound design.
🎮 Sound Design Evolution and Nintendo 64 Work
This paragraph delves into the technical aspects of sound design for older gaming systems, particularly the Nintendo 64, which lacked a dedicated audio chip. Huelsbeck explains how he worked around the limitations by mixing audio on the CPU and balancing sound quality with memory constraints. He also discusses his work on 'Resident Evil 2' and 'Rogue Squadron', highlighting the creative solutions he employed to achieve high-quality audio within the systems' capabilities.
🔊 Sound Challenges and Creative Solutions on Different Consoles
Chris Huelsbeck shares his experiences with the sound hardware of various consoles, including the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive. He contrasts the clean sound of the Super Nintendo with the 'crunchy' quality of the Mega Drive's FM synthesis. Huelsbeck also discusses the innovative use of the Z80 processor for sample mixing in the Mega Drive, which was against Sega's guidelines but successfully implemented by Factor 5.
🎵 Transition from Physical to Digital Audio
The conversation shifts to the transition from hardware-limited sound design to the digital audio era, where CD-quality audio became standard. Huelsbeck reflects on the loss of the creative challenge that hardware limitations provided, but also acknowledges the benefits of the new technology. He talks about his work on 'Jim Power' and the '7 channel trick' he used to enhance the Amiga's sound capabilities, pushing the boundaries of what was possible with the hardware at the time.
🎼 The Impact of SID Chip and Early Synthesizer Experiences
Huelsbeck reminisces about his early experiences with the SID chip on the Commodore 64, which sparked his interest in synthesizer music. He discusses how the chip allowed him to fulfill his dream of creating electronic music and led to his first paid gig in game development. The paragraph also covers his first real synthesizer, the Ensoniq ESQ-1, and how it influenced his work and the evolution of his sound design.
📚 Embracing the Digital Studio and Favorite Projects
In this final paragraph, Huelsbeck talks about his transition to a fully digital studio, leveraging virtual studio technology to create music. He reflects on the convenience and power of modern laptops compared to his earlier large studio setup. The discussion concludes with his favorite project, the 'Turrican' series, which holds a special place in his heart as it allowed him to fully express his musical vision and creativity.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sound Projects
💡Amiga
💡Kickstarter
💡Patreon
💡Nintendo 64
💡Rogue Squadron
💡Memory Footprint
💡GameCube
💡FM Synthesis
💡C64
💡Synthesizer
Highlights
Chris Hülsbeck discusses his work on various sound projects and reflects on the evolution of sound design in gaming.
Hülsbeck's recent work includes finishing a Kickstarter project for a new Amiga soundtrack, using original hardware and tools.
He faced challenges recreating the Amiga sound experience due to limitations in memory and processing power.
Hülsbeck's work on 'Bubsy' is highlighted, with a special mention of his friend Audie Surly's influence.
His involvement in the creation of an orchestral selection CD and vinyl pack for the game 'Tarkin' is showcased.
Hülsbeck's use of Patreon as a platform for ongoing music projects and offering royalty-free music to supporters is discussed.
His history with tracker software on the C64 and Amiga, and work on various consoles up to the PlayStation 3 is covered.
Hülsbeck's approach to working with the Nintendo 64's limited audio hardware and creating high-quality game music is explained.
The upgrade to the Gamecube's audio hardware and its impact on Hülsbeck's music composition process is examined.
His work on the 'Indiana Jones' project for Super Nintendo and the challenge of fitting orchestral music into limited hardware is highlighted.
The differences in sound hardware design between the Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive are discussed.
Hülsbeck's preference for the Megadrive's sound chip due to its challenge and unique 'crunchy' sound is noted.
The shift from creating music within hardware limitations to using CD-quality audio on PlayStation is explored.
Hülsbeck's '7 channel trick' on the Amiga, which allowed for more complex sound compositions, is explained.
The impact of the SID chip on Hülsbeck's early career and his love for synthesizer music is highlighted.
His transition to fully virtual studio technology and the advantages it offers over traditional hardware is discussed.
Hülsbeck's most memorable project, the Turrican series, and its significance in his career is celebrated.
Plans for a more in-depth documentary-style video on Hülsbeck's work with DF Retro are teased.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
hello and welcome back to another DF
direct I'm John Linderman and this time
I have a very special guest joining me
to discuss all manners of sound projects
this is of course the legendary Chris
holes Beck welcome to the show Chris ie
how's it going yeah okay a little bit
jet-lagged
yeah I just arrived in Germany not too
long ago and yeah excellent well today I
think the main topic is I wanted to talk
to you about some of the sound ships
that you've worked on in the past and
sort of you know the it's interesting
sound used to be a very different thing
than it is today
you really had to program for these
machines and there was a lot of work to
be done you've of course done a lot of
that across many different machines but
before we get to that what do you been
working on over the last few years so
the last game I worked on was actually
pop seed the bully strike back
and yeah but that's what's over a year
ago and then I spend a lot of time
finishing up my last Kickstarter project
where I promised foolishly the hair
created as a bonus of a full new Amiga
soundtrack so for that you actually went
back to the original hardware in tools
then yes I used my original sound tool
from the Amiga and slaved away and it
was much harder than I anticipated yeah
so what kind of challenges did you face
with that what well I mean I'm not 20
anymore first of all back then I did the
soundtrack for like at arrogant or
whatever probably in something like
three four months and this time it took
me over a year to put the CD fault I
made sure that I used the same tools and
I limited myself to the same memory
footprint that I would have had back
then and I even when I did a new sample
so I used
sounds that I would have had available
at 95 or so so that was a challenge in
itself that's awesome
I guess I should say real quick big
shout out to my good friend audie surly
for setting all this up of course and I
think it's very fitting that you worked
on bubsy because we all know that he
loves clumsy he's a fake fan and we even
did that whole episode on DF richer so
yeah that happened but hey I think you
actually brought along one of the vinyl
CD packs here yeah I did actually
oh my god I've had a chance to look at
this yet this is the Tarkin orchestral
selections our second orchestral kick
started at minute to record Huracan
music with a live orchestra oh wow huge
production and yeah it turned out even
better than the first one even though
the first one is already amazing but
this this is really like the ultimate in
sound and whatever so yeah and it
contains the CD also this vinyl in here
and art prints and the CD contains also
that amiga bonus oh yeah I mean here to
hear that check it out and it's limited
they're really made a thousand of the
world oh yeah it's really cool another
thing that I've been working on for the
last few years is actually a website
called patreon which is also a
crowdfunding thing where this it's for
ongoing projects and I do usually I do
one music piece a month written my fans
can support me from $1 and it's kind of
like a tip jar and I get something out
of it and about two years ago I decided
to make all the pieces that I did and
over 25 now royalty-free so everybody or
contributes can use all these music
pieces for whatever they want YouTube
they don't have to worry about Content
ID you could use it on your channel if
you wanted to and the only thing I'm
asking for is a credit that it sounds
good
I guess I'm really just eager to talk
about some of the old sound stuff
obviously I mean you really made your
name back with the tracker software on
the c64 the Amiga
but you worked on a lot of the different
consoles as well all the way up through
I guess like I mean you were even
working like PlayStation 3 at some point
is that how far did you go yeah but I
didn't do the backend programming for
that I think was the last back-end that
you worked on the last beckoned was
probably Super Nintendo and Mega Drive
where I actually have code that I
programmed in in the game and then after
that the genies program as a factor 5
advanced to the next level but the
interesting part is that the tf-x system
that I developed on the Commodore 64 and
then it was very prominently featured on
the Amiga computer that actually went
also on to Super Nintendo Sega Megadrive
and later even on to Nintendo 64 oh
that's cool and actually that's one
that's one of the most interesting
things you did a lot of work on Nintendo
64 so obviously with factor 5 guys he
also contributed to the Resident Evil 2
conversion which is sort of a miracle
port to the system but the n64 doesn't
really have a proper sound chip does it
so how did you approach like working on
a system like that that didn't really
have dedicated audio Hardware right so
they just gave it the ability to output
I think it was 16-bit sound already
mm-hmm and you had but you had to mix it
on the cpu oh but it was it was
optimized for that so you could have in
the game even rocks for NASA graph we
had 16 or 20 voices okay that were
adverse effects and I don't know how
many were in Resident Evil but yeah it
was it was definitely doable the more
limiting factor was probably the the
memory because we recorded on the
cartridge of course because it was not
the CD system yet so you basically had
to craft samples then it would work
within the memory limitations we kind of
said did you produce music where it's
you tried to say okay I want to do this
quality but then you it's kicked back
and say no this samples are too large
like how did you deal with that finding
the right balance between sound quality
always about
and there are several ways to go about
it you either get like high fidelity
instruments but they have to look very
fast oh yeah yeah or you do some low
fidelity but you can have longer loops
and so yeah that was always a struggle
but yeah you know I mean that's that's
like part of the puzzle yeah yeah that
you give them and make it sound good and
I think in just in terms of Rogue
Squadron it's it still holds up pretty
well it does yeah it's one of the best
sounding games in the system I think it
still sounds suitably Star Wars did you
actually go back to the original Star
Wars like music tracks and samples and
then try to pull those in and find ways
to massage them to work within the
memory constraints well I mean all the
samples were new but there were you know
modeled after Symphony Orchestra verse
of course this you know very very like
cut down of course but I think I
remember spending a good month or so on
the tidal music track and in fact I
still finished that up in Germany and it
was kind of like the proof that
LucasArts needed to bring me over to do
spectre-5 and and and that title track
convinced them because I was able to get
that into the memory footprint that we
wanted with the voices and it sounded
pretty darn good yeah that's interesting
because the original Star Wars game on
Nintendo 64 was shadows of the Empire
which LucasArts produced and their
approach was simply to digitize the
music but they had to play it back
really Louis sample rate so that ball
and and probably shorter loops exactly
like very short loops very low sample
rate so the approach you did and then by
breaking it up into the samples we were
able to get very clean sounding audio
and that's interesting that because you
mentioned that so the factor of five
guys came over to the United States and
96 or so and you were a couple years
later 98 98 for rock squadron actually
yeah well I was actually brought over
for an initial nine months mm-hmm and
then we stretched it to a year and after
that they offered me
I wanted to stay that's cool you did
work on Rogue Squadron two and three as
well yeah good news obviously while
we're talking the Nintendo hardware how
did you feel about the upgrade to the
audio hardware there because the
Gamecube obviously had significantly
more memory and advanced audio
capabilities how did you approach that
absolutely your thoughts on it it was
still the same system act really a music
system that we did called musics mm-hmm
was actually used on a Gamecube as well
because we had a few pieces that we
could stream but not everything because
there was still like stuff that they
loaded on the fly oh yeah and the codecs
were just not quite there yet to crunch
it down so you couldn't do like an mp3
codec per se yeah it's it progressed and
it got better and better and by rogue
squadron three we had actually a little
bit more of the original soundtrack
loops vixen was the MIDI and actually
the challenge there was to have like
seamless switches between the MIDI music
for samples and the actual longer sample
snippets that came from the original
sound oh yeah
and that worked actually out which was
nice and another thing that many people
don't know about the rock solid series
is that I actually composed a lot of the
a lot of additional music that's alright
you didn't just use the regular Star
Wars tracks from John Williams a new
music in there was maybe like in some
cases half and half or 60% soundtrack
40% new compositions Wow okay that's
really cool Benchley it was rock
squadron two at the end and rock
squadron three we also had another
composer that helped out and we really
took it to the next level where it it
sounded like I I mean yeah it was it was
like the soundtrack in fact I think now
so much time has passed that I can talk
a little bit about it the sad fact is
that we had actually recorded music from
all three rocks once was a life work
at some point and it never saw the light
of day because of the there was some
project was canceled and then effective
- on the originally yeah it could have
had a release on the we that's right I
can fool like I remember happened like a
new version with all three games
something yeah that would have been
amazing or master recordings up all
those tracks yeah so they sit right now
in like some draw his name probably yeah
and nobody knows about them that's a
shame I would love to hear that but yeah
it's just maybe you can dream someday
maybe figured out somebody will be able
to use those I kind of feel like that's
a series that people would welcome back
if they were able to bring this back I
think Rogue Squadron would do pretty
well and the games themselves still look
great today yeah so it's like why not
bring them back we don't have anything
like that these days
so thinking of a factor five were you
involved from the indiana jones project
as well they did an infernal machine I
mean 64 I think was a Super Nintendo
game actually oh yeah that's right
earlier Indiana Jones where I did some
tracks there was like The Chronicles of
money in it was kind of done with
straight conversion from the soundtrack
rate race but it was still a challenge
and it was fun to do that because I'm a
big fan of genres of course squeeze that
kind of you know like Orchestra stuff
into such small space this is a special
challenge and fun okay so that's
actually interesting then Super NES and
Mega Drive I love these systems I'm
especially partial to the Mega Drive
there they're both great but I'm curious
from somebody that's actually worked on
the music side of things they're very
different in terms of the way the sound
hardware is designed oh yeah what were
your thoughts on each machine and in
working with them basically
well the Super Nintendo was really nice
because I could actually go from my
Amiga seven voice system go ahead and
and use the Amiga to compose the music
and then basically was pure limitation
straitly ported to the
Super Nintendo on the Megadrive on the
other hand you had the FM sonship and
that PSG was few voices and then the
factor five guys Thomas angular he did
an amazing efficient example mixup for
two channels simple to PCM giraffes and
things like that great yeah
and so that was fun in itself because of
all the different styles and flavors of
sound chips yeah I feel like the kind of
the look and feel of something like
megator can actually works pretty well
there with the FM synthesis came that
grungy metallic sound yeah I like it I
think it sounds it definitely has a
special place yeah one interesting
anecdote there is that for the sample
mixing factor 5 use the z80 processor oh
really
yeah that was actually reserved for
master system use compatibility and it
was not supposed to be used by the 68000
was running it very huh but they managed
to do it and they got through all the
checks from Sega and it went through and
it worked we were always like wondering
why they prohibited it wasn't because
the machine would get too hot or could
it unexpectedly crash or would it like
you so much power and break the power
supply I don't know what was ultimately
I think maybe they thought about putting
all the machine later that didn't have
to see a right oh yeah yeah they could
strip that out because you had to use it
for mastery systems backwards
compatibility so maybe that's possible
yes so what do you think then Super NES
or Mega Drive which sound chip do you
personally prefer that's a really tough
choice but I really liked the challenge
of the Mega Drive and and I still like
the sound of it it's as you said like
crunchy yeah the Super Nintendo was like
very clean and
almost a little bit dull compared to
like the Amiga but it yeah it was kind
of like it was a little bit softer yeah
you're right mom kilohertz and it's kind
of like soft fall off on the channels
and yeah yeah I know what you mean it
was a very different sound yeah I mean
you never get there's a lot of systems
from there that you didn't actually get
to work on or is there any that you
really regret that you didn't get to
spend time with like you didn't really
do anything on PlayStation right you
didn't do you think it's Aaron I did one
game at least on PlayStation with just a
little bit probably one that's a local
game that was my first well I was
actually my second grateful game because
Jim power was on his horse
that's an awesome engine this was the
cd-rom but Tanabe one was the first one
that I yeah did officially for system
that was available in Europe so yeah
that's actually interesting then because
you're right
the switch to Redbook audio kind of
meant that you didn't have the same
limitations as the consoles because it
was just you could make whatever music
you wanted and then put it on the disc
yeah how did you feel about that like
did you feel like that took away from
some of the fun and challenge or were
you just like oh this is great I can
just make whatever yeah at first it was
definitely great that that freedom to do
whatever you wanted was to you know it's
the power of a studio recording and all
those machines that you had but I don't
know
I mean shook music still has like a
special place in my heart yeah exactly
me too it has a certain sound to it and
you have a Jim power soundtrack it's
really good by the way if you guys
haven't heard that dude listen to that
it's a very disorienting game to play
due to the way they do this the parallax
scrolling layers all right put the
soundtracks really really good and yes
you used your 7 channel trick on that
actually you know what we should we
should explain that what tell us about
the 7 channel trick on the Amiga yeah
people understand what this is about
because this was really cool so let's go
back a little bit on the comic okay c64
why are already hat
a force and pseudo fixed channel because
it's on trip only has three voices but I
figured out the trick to play samples
along with Sanchi voices and so I had
four and then a multiplex doors to make
like two sounds almost at the same time
you know it could have a drums on and
some bass sound even this was pitches
and and played them along and then you
would have three set channels to play
like ports and more interesting things
yeah
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
so I use it quite a bit and then when I
switched to the Amiga was obviously
happy that it had samples and you could
already like sample a whole quart onto
one channel and you had three more and
but in my mind already I thought like
couldn't we also do software voices on
the Amiga and I experimented a little
bit and the first version that I tried
was to mix two sample channels onto each
one of the four amiga chance that would
have been eight okay but the sound
quality was very bad yeah and the
quality was also not there and the code
was not that efficient but then I saw a
software mixer from a friend and
colleague and Industry Johanna plot of
course he wrote a basically emulation of
the Amiga sound on the Atari ST well
unless main goal was to play you know
track on modify it and might hear from X
which he also ported over and to play
those four voice Amiga things on the
Atari ST and that sounded pretty good
and it was his own code was very
efficient aha so then I asked him hey
could you like give me your source code
and I try to port it back to the Amiga
and then mix that into one Amiga Channel
very the idea that I had was like okay
you have those four voices and then you
have three regular Hardware voices that
are untouched so everything that doesn't
sound as good on the software voices
like drums and bass and things like that
they don't degrade that much you play
them on those four sulfur voices and
then you still have to 3 Omega change
for the more higher end sounds very very
belt or
I had sort of things like that what was
the first game that you actually used
this in then Tarkin - it was - yeah and
it was really arts of the showcase that
the title music if you listen to the
intro of it
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
it's essentially like the composition
follows that showcasing of the voices
because it adds likewise after voice
after wise and here you're like where's
this coming from you know that was yeah
then and then of course it plays the
theme from turrican one and then it goes
into Tariq and who theme and it's still
probably the best it sounds yeah
composition that at that for the fans
developers were still figuring out all
these new tricks on the hardware and it
wasn't immediately apparent what you
could or could not do so as you're
buying games for the computers you pop
in a new game and you might hear or see
something that you've never seen before
and it was just like I didn't realize
you could do this on the machine and
that's kind of a feeling that I miss a
little bit today you don't really get
that in feeling anymore like it does
feel like okay oh this is neat and an
impressive evolution but not like you
don't feel like oh I've never heard this
before or seen this before it's right
more of this more evolution yeah I've
been revolution yeah definitely so then
what so then I guess obviously c64 then
was kind of your main roots and stuff
like Giana Sisters of course and what's
your take on the old sid chip then
because that's I love the sound of it
but how was it to work on it that's
that's probably my favorite sound chip
Oh of all times and that sense and and
it's amazing that it's actually still
relevant to the hands and yeah but it
was like my childhood dream was to make
synthesizer music mhm and when I was in
my teenager years I I so wanted to own a
synthesizer but my family couldn't
afford that it was super expensive so
then I read in a magazine that the
Commodore 64 I had a synthesizer sound
chip and I thought that's my that's my
my way in and my chance to do
synthesizer music then I also wanted to
become I was actually interested in game
development as well oh yeah ensign and
back then you could you could almost do
a game still by yourself it's right here
or was a very small team and turned out
I wasn't such a good day
design I'm like the friend of mine he
had already sold the game to a company
and and was working on the second game
and he wasn't good for Sloane so you
need music perfect I make music first
game and that became my first game music
when you eventually obviously then you
did have an opportunity to get your
first real synthesizer sort of oh yeah
what was the first one you got the and
Sonic
yes q1 which was just a few months after
the chase did attract at one magazine
contest I approached rainbow arts if
they needed help with their game music
my first paid gigs there and they
offered me a job in house Rowley that's
excellent so at 19 years old I started
working for them and one of the requests
that I had was that they would sponsor a
synthesizer and I will see and Sonic yes
q1 the interesting part days I was drawn
to the East year one because it was
actually at the time something
revolutionary right because it could
play several different sounds at the
same time and I had once a building and
I immediately enjoyed the structure how
it was laid out even though it didn't
have all those knobs to twiddle like the
old machines very digital system but it
had a very analog old style layout and I
found out later that the guy who
designed that synthesizer wasn't a sign
of the century yeah it's like fate yeah
anything have to be so what what is your
favorite synthesizer than it that you've
had over the years um that's a good
question mmm like I would have to say
they use q1 and that makes sense
yeah what kind of gear do you have these
days then around 2000 Steinberg the
company that are always used for
sequencing and all that stuff MIDI and
audio stuff they developed here
see standard which stands for virtual
studio technology of course and when
when I saw that working for the first
time was a few effects and a very simple
software synthesizer I immediately saw
the future yes I in the mid-90s I
actually had a pretty sizable studio was
like many machines and lots of cables
and mixing death and ton of money was in
there and it was actually very difficult
to bring that all over to the US yeah of
course but I took the main components I
did bring over but I saw the writing on
the wall you know was computing power
getting always better and these things
that it would go virtual and I actually
managed to go fully virtual by 2007 2006
2007 and I did an album completely
virtual he's in virtual studio in
virtual studio sense and as effects just
was that and over the years I sold
everything and I work on the laptop now
Wow yeah it's a pretty powerful laptop
but it's it's amazing what you can do I
can do more with that laptop probably
times 10 what I could do in the nine is
in that studio is there any project that
sticks out in your mind is like this was
the most fun to do or this was the you
of the best memories of working on it
and it's it's it's got to be the
turrican serious yeah yeah that makes it
because it it it was completely my music
my brainchild what I put in there and it
was essentially what I was dreaming
about as a as a kid I really wanted to
do was with electronic music and then of
course because it was an action game it
had that driving beat of course but all
that melodic synthesizer stuff was was
represented and then I really I built
quite a catalog with that and even to
this day as you can tell from the
orchestral Kickstarter's and everything
the fans still support them absolutely
have great stuff man this is just sort
of scratching the surface though in a
more casual setting we're gonna we're
also here to work on a little bit more
of an in-depth documentary style video
for DF retro that you can probably
expect sometime next year early at some
point that's gonna be a little bit more
in-depth but you know I thought it would
be funny here to you know sit down with
you for a little bit and discuss some
thoughts on the old sound hardware and I
love it it's great stuff amazing work
after all these years so thank you and
if you guys enjoyed this special video
as always be sure to LIKE and subscribe
of course ring the notification bell and
follow us over on Twitter and definitely
go check out Chris's work over on
patreon and everywhere else and yeah how
can you know it's great stuff but until
next time stay retro
you
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