English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Was David Whittaker the laziest musician on Amiga?

Galahad/FLT · 14 November 2009, 14:15

In recent years i've been going through games I either didn't play back in the day or just for nostalgia sakes, loading up a game I hadn't played very often and didn't remember very well.

Now, David Whittaker has done some very memorable tunes, don't get me wrong. Speedball, Xenon 2, Shadow of the Beast to name a couple.

He's actually done a tonne of tunes on Amiga, but i'm afraid Mr.Whittaker is in my opinion, a completely lazy bastard that was basically 'phoning' his tunes in.

When you hear Shadow of the Beast, those sounds the music uses are so distinctive, so definitively Beast, that imagine my horror at hearing the same ones use in Wrath of the Demon!

And not just that game either, theres several other games he's done that all use Beast samples, and it just reeks of lazyness. I don't hear the tune itself, all i'm thinking is "thats Beast, why has he used that?".

As for his chip tune style music like Speedball, obviously Speedball being one of his first tunes to use those instruments, it still sounds like a fresh tune, but then you listen to all the rest of his chiptune style music, and its all the exact same instruments!!!

Every one of his chiptune tunes sounds like bloody Speedball!

How the hell did he get away with it for so long?

Most musicians on Amiga go through a natural progression, using stuff like the ST-01 sample disk to make their music, and then quickly outgrowing them, and seeking out cleaner and more 'modern' and contemporary samples. You wouldn't for instance find any musician still using ST-01 stuff in 1993, but David Whittaker is essentially doing a variation of that.

Anyone agree / disagree?

14 November 2009, 14:15	#1
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 9,014	Was David Whittaker the laziest musician on Amiga? In recent years i've been going through games I either didn't play back in the day or just for nostalgia sakes, loading up a game I hadn't played very often and didn't remember very well. Now, David Whittaker has done some very memorable tunes, don't get me wrong. Speedball, Xenon 2, Shadow of the Beast to name a couple. He's actually done a tonne of tunes on Amiga, but i'm afraid Mr.Whittaker is in my opinion, a completely lazy bastard that was basically 'phoning' his tunes in. When you hear Shadow of the Beast, those sounds the music uses are so distinctive, so definitively Beast, that imagine my horror at hearing the same ones use in Wrath of the Demon! And not just that game either, theres several other games he's done that all use Beast samples, and it just reeks of lazyness. I don't hear the tune itself, all i'm thinking is "thats Beast, why has he used that?". As for his chip tune style music like Speedball, obviously Speedball being one of his first tunes to use those instruments, it still sounds like a fresh tune, but then you listen to all the rest of his chiptune style music, and its all the exact same instruments!!! Every one of his chiptune tunes sounds like bloody Speedball! How the hell did he get away with it for so long? Most musicians on Amiga go through a natural progression, using stuff like the ST-01 sample disk to make their music, and then quickly outgrowing them, and seeking out cleaner and more 'modern' and contemporary samples. You wouldn't for instance find any musician still using ST-01 stuff in 1993, but David Whittaker is essentially doing a variation of that. Anyone agree / disagree?