DF Retro Direct: Chris Huelsbeck Interview - Star Wars, Factor 5, Turrican and more!

Summary

In 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

00:00

🎙️ 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.

05:01

🎮 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.

10:01

🔊 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.

15:05

🎵 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.

20:05

🎼 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.

25:06

📚 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.

Keywords

💡Sound Projects

Sound projects refer to the creative and technical work involved in producing audio for various media, such as video games, films, or music albums. In the context of this video, the term highlights the guest's involvement in creating soundtracks and sound effects for different gaming platforms. An example from the script is when Chris discusses working on sound for games like 'Popeye' and 'Bubsy'.

💡Amiga

The Amiga is a series of personal computers that were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, known for their advanced audio and graphics capabilities for the time. In the video, Chris mentions using original Amiga hardware and tools to create a new soundtrack for a Kickstarter project, emphasizing the system's role in his earlier work.

💡Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform where creators can raise funds for their projects from the public. Chris mentions a Kickstarter project where he promised to create a new Amiga soundtrack as a bonus, illustrating how modern crowdfunding platforms support creative projects in the field of sound design.

💡Patreon

Patreon is another platform for crowdfunding, but it focuses on providing ongoing support for creators by allowing fans to contribute monthly. Chris discusses his Patreon page where he releases a new music piece each month for his supporters, showing how such platforms enable creators to engage with their audience and fund their work.

💡Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64, often abbreviated as N64, is a video game console released in the mid-1990s. It is relevant to the video as Chris talks about the challenges of working with the N64's sound capabilities, which lacked a dedicated audio chip and required creative solutions to produce high-quality game music.

💡Rogue Squadron

Rogue Squadron is a series of Star Wars-themed flight simulation games for the Nintendo 64. The series is mentioned as one of the projects Chris worked on, and he discusses composing new music for the games in addition to using John Williams' iconic Star Wars soundtrack.

💡Memory Footprint

Memory footprint refers to the amount of storage space used by a program or data in a system. In the video, Chris talks about limiting himself to the same memory footprint he would have had in the past when creating new samples, which was a constraint that influenced his creative process and the technical aspects of sound design.

💡GameCube

The GameCube is a sixth-generation video game console from Nintendo. It is brought up in the script when discussing the evolution of audio hardware and how it allowed for more advanced sound capabilities compared to its predecessor, the Nintendo 64.

💡FM Synthesis

FM synthesis, or frequency modulation synthesis, is a method of creating sounds using the modulation of one waveform by another. The term is relevant as Chris talks about the different sound chips on the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive, and how FM synthesis contributed to the unique sound of the Mega Drive.

💡C64

The C64, or Commodore 64, is an 8-bit home computer from the 1980s that was popular for its sound chip, the SID, which allowed for advanced audio capabilities at the time. Chris discusses his roots in sound design starting with the C64, and how it influenced his career in creating game music and sound effects.

💡Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that can be manipulated in various ways to create a wide range of sounds. Chris's first synthesizer, the Yamaha DX1, is mentioned in the script as a significant step in his journey as a musician and sound designer, highlighting the importance of synthesizers in creating game soundtracks.

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

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can you know it's great stuff but until

next time stay retro

you