My experience with the Amiga and music.

[Lektroid]

When I first heard the C64 music, I was amazed at how good it was (to me it sounded as good as my older brother's synthesizers). It was then I started to get into computer music and got myself the C64 Sound Expander cartridge and full sized keyboard which connected to the cartridge via a ribbon cable.


A few years later I got an Amiga and started writing my own music on Noisetracker. I had my first demos played in a Techno club in 1989, and by 1992 I had my first vinyl released, all recorded from the Amiga. After a few releases, the record labels and studios were pushing me towards Atari Cubase & Akai samplers, naturally I jumped ship. Still having the love for the Amiga, over the years I switched between Atari, Cubase & Amiga, Octamed.



After several house moves, I lost all my Amiga disks with the music I'd written through the '90s, although I do still have some recorded on tape, but only finished pieces, I had hundreds of unfinished .mod & .med files. In the last 20 years I've been using Mac/logic, and been getting into building hardware synthesizers.


A few months ago I was in my attic and found the C64C I'd bought cheap when the Commodore factory I'd worked at in Peterborough (UK) closed, I'd never took it out of the box as I preferred the sound of the 6581 SID. That got me thinking about my Amiga days, and how much I loved my old A500. So I went on Gumtree and grabbed myself an A1200.



After loading up Octamed, I sat staring at the screen thinking, how the hell did I write music on this??? Just for old time sake, I'd love to make a few tracks on the Amiga, but it would take me an age to re-learn the software. I don't even have a sampler, and can't find the software I used to edit samples with (Audio Master IV, as memory serves).


I'm glad I got the Amiga though, I'm really enjoying playing the old games & the demoscene. I now have a little Commodore corner set up in my electronics workshop.



I just thought I'd share that little memory with you guys...

[chip]

Yep, games and demoscene are really a good reason to re-discovery Amiga

I always been impressed by Amiga music, in the past and nowadays

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Lektroid

After loading up Octamed, I sat staring at the screen thinking, how the hell did I write music on this??? Just for old time sake, I'd love to make a few tracks on the Amiga, but it would take me an age to re-learn the software. I don't even have a sampler, and can't find the software I used to edit samples with (Audio Master IV, as memory serves).

I can relate to this feeling, tracking can be a bit harsh after you moved on to a different way of making music. Not sure what you moved on to, but if you just think as the tracker as a vertical step sequencer, it becomes less cryptic.

You don't need a sampler nowadays, you can convert samples from a modern computer, for far better results than those using a sampler.

Audio Master IV is available everywhere, but again, I would recommend just edit and convert on a modern computer, and only track on Amiga.

[ransom1122]

Originally Posted by Akira

You don't need a sampler nowadays, you can convert samples from a modern computer, for far better results than those using a sampler.

Can you explain the convert part? Which samples are you referring too and how is the convert process to amiga?

I've just seen this and its got me intrigued.

[ Show youtube player ]

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

Can you explain the convert part? Which samples are you referring too and how is the convert process to amiga?

I've just seen this and its got me intrigued.

[ Show youtube player ]

When I do my ST conversions, I output a video with sound via STEEM, then use a PC sound program that can edit and rip the sounds from the video and can also save as 8bit samples, and then import via WinUAE, absolute doddle.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

Can you explain the convert part?

You could search the forums:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=66065

[ransom1122]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

When I do my ST conversions, I output a video with sound via STEEM, then use a PC sound program that can edit and rip the sounds from the video and can also save as 8bit samples, and then import via WinUAE, absolute doddle.

What pc sound program you use to rip?

[Lektroid]

I have piles of samples on my mac, but most are 24bit files. I wonder how easy that will be to convert

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Lektroid

I have piles of samples on my mac, but most are 24bit files. I wonder how easy that will be to convert

Same as any other file, look at the thread I linked to above.
The key is not in converting it ALL, but in converting what you will need/use.

[deladrevoc]

I'm hoping there will soon be a production run of the new Open Amiga Sampler:

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2...tage-platform/

[Lektroid]

Originally Posted by deladrevoc

I'm hoping there will soon be a production run of the new Open Amiga Sampler:

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2...tage-platform/

If the gerber files are available, I could get a small run of these done myself and sell at cost to the community. I'm in touch with a few PCB manufacturers, so I should get a fairly good deal.

[seb132]

That’s a very nice return to Amiga story...
I understand what you say when you wonder how you created your music before.
I’m the same about Desktop Publishing. I used to be a guru with ProPage4 (I was making my engineering school monthly newspaper in it, doing everything). I still have my original A1200 tower system (home build), rock stable and super optimised and eye candy workbench, but all that stuck to 2005-2008 years.
I don’t even dare try to upgrade libraries, or system patches, as everything is so well balanced after 15+ years of use...
And ProPage i would barely know how to start... différence is I kept all my creations and well archived. But I wouldn’t qualify myself as an artist, though.
I hope your return to Amiga will be fun! Lots of good stuff nowadays to enjoy it!

[deladrevoc]

Originally Posted by Lektroid

If the gerber files are available, I could get a small run of these done myself and sell at cost to the community. I'm in touch with a few PCB manufacturers, so I should get a fairly good deal.

That would be great, I believe the team are going with a new SMD PCB design.
PC samples are clearly better quality but for the ultimate retro experience....



You could get in touch with one of the designers regarding production here if you wish:

https://echolevel.co.uk/

[Lektroid]

Originally Posted by deladrevoc

That would be great, I believe the team are going with a new SMD PCB design.
PC samples are clearly better quality but for the ultimate retro experience....



You could get in touch with one of the designers regarding production here if you wish:

https://echolevel.co.uk/

Thanks for the link. I was only going to do a small run of 10 or so, hand build half and sell the other half at cost as PCB only. I think I'll wait and see what they're doing with the SMD version before committing to anything. I know it's open source, but I don't want to step on people's toes if they plan to manufacture SMD versions themselves.