This is driving me insane...

Lektroid · 01 October 2020, 07:38

Around the end of the '90s I moved out of my flat into a house, in the move I forgot to empty a shed and a large walk-in cupboard. There was a load of cast iron weightlifting stuff in the shed and a racing bicycle, I don't really feel any loss for that stuff since it's all replaceable items. However, in the walk-in cupboard there were about 400 disks (5 boxes) full of my unreleased music (.mod/.med files) which I'd written over a 10 year span from 1989 onwards, not to mention the huge sample collection I'd built up. Some of it was released onto vinyl in the early '90s, but the majority of it never went further than my living room. That's a huge chunk of my music history gone forever.

I've recently returned to the Amiga scene, and seeing loads of folk uploading their music files into the scene hurts so bad. I have some of my stuff recorded to various tapes, but can't really do anything with that; would have loved to have the chance to bring it into the studio and polish it so others can hear it, even just listen to and maybe finish some of the unfinished & forgotten work which I never recorded to tape.

What I'd give to load those old tunes into my Amiga again. I still have a couple of boxes of music I did on the Atari ST which is ok, but the Amiga was a huge part of my musical journey. I've always said a problem shared is a problem halved, and this one has been eating away at me for a long time.

Psiq · 01 October 2020, 10:03

I know your pain. I wrote a few 8 bit games back in the 80's that were never published, When I sold all my kit to buy an Amiga, my games went with it. It would be great to play them again.

Foebane · 01 October 2020, 11:04

I wrote a puzzle game called Brainbow that lingered around for a while and only I knew about it, and for some reason I can't remember, the only disk it was on I had in my hand, and was THAT close to destroying it as I didn't really want to bother with it anymore. At the last moment, I thought, why not send it to somewhere like 17-Bit Software (PD suppliers) along with a HAM slideshow I made about Amiga models, and it spread like wildfire from there (the slideshow was boring, they said, but they loved Brainbow!) Ever since, the game has become part of the TOSEC collection, has been reviewed in Amiga Power AND has become part of the Assassins game collection, and I'm glad I did this.

It encouraged me to follow up with a second puzzle game, Revolver, that I sent again to 17-Bit Software, and while there was no review this time (although it appeared on Amiga User International's coverdisk!) it was also put onto the Assassins game disks.

The final game I released to 17-Bit Software was Dangerous Natives, but it was quite late in the Amiga's life and, I believe, disappeared without a trace. No Assassins, no reviews, nothing.

Predseda · 01 October 2020, 11:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foebane

I wrote a puzzle game called Brainbow

http://www.lemonamiga.com/?game_id=4281

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foebane

It encouraged me to follow up with a second puzzle game, Revolver

http://www.lemonamiga.com/?game_id=4280

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foebane

The final game I released was Dangerous Natives

Psiq · 01 October 2020, 13:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foebane

The final game I released to 17-Bit Software was Dangerous Natives, but it was quite late in the Amiga's life and, I believe, disappeared without a trace. No Assassins, no reviews, nothing.

Have you still got a copy on disk you can ADF?

Foebane · 01 October 2020, 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psiq

Have you still got a copy on disk you can ADF?

No. I made the game around 1994, then recorded footage of it on VHS, then years later transferred it to DVD, and finally to YouTube video. This is all that remains of the game:

[ Show youtube player ]

I might be able to reverse-engineer it one day, at least you can see how it plays.

Lektroid · 02 October 2020, 01:35

Looks like my thread got hijacked by something completely irrelevant. Oh well, I guess nobody cares.

T_hairy_bootson · 02 October 2020, 02:12

I thought it was all pretty relevant, people expressing loss of stuff they created. I'm sorry you lost your music.

saimon69 · 02 October 2020, 02:41

Wish i still had most of the floppies where i had my samples and mod files made between 1989 and 1991

daxb · 02 October 2020, 11:59

"Luckily" I only lost one floppy disk full of my modules by formatting it before hand over to a friend who needed a disk. Later I noticed my mistake and back than it was a nightmare experience. The good old floppy only times without backups. I think to lose creativity material is always a brain killer.

dreamkatcha · 03 October 2020, 18:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lektroid

Looks like my thread got hijacked by something completely irrelevant. Oh well, I guess nobody cares.

I don't think it's a case of no-one caring, it's just that there's not a lot that can be said to help change the situation. When people can't fix a problem, we share our own experiences because you've got to say something to make it a conversation. It's just human nature, we have our limits. Your music is very unlikely to resurface, in the same way that you can't bring a deceased loved one back from the dead. Unless there's some hope of tracking it down through the new owners of the property? It can't hurt to try? If the flat hasn't changed ownership again, you'd think the occupants would remember finding a stash of 400 vintage disks. It's quite a time-capsule discovery even if they mean nothing to a stranger.

I know it's 10 years worth of hard slog and passion, which is a staggering thought in itself, but what would it take to begin recreating your collection using old school software via emulation to keep it authentic? Could you retrace the inspiration that led to the composition of each track and get back in that zone? Your cassette tapes should help. It might be an interesting process to try and relive that journey and document it as a retro revival project. If you make an event of it and enjoy the experience it might not feel like such a chore.

I've lost lengthy essays and videos before through hard drive failure/viruses and recreated them from scratch. It was infuriating at first, though as you get stuck in, it all comes flooding back and the end result can be even better because you're older and wiser.

jizmo · 12 October 2020, 07:40

The only consolation I can give you is that things that you've lost probably feel more meaningful to you because you lost them than if you'd still have access to them.

I'm professional artist with a master's degree in screenwriting and always wished to get my late 80s-early 90s Amiga Deluxe Paint images and written stories back. When I eventually did find the floppies and went through the vigorous process of restoring the aforementioned, I found the old work less exciting than I'd hoped for, and ended up storing it all away on a network disk that I haven't touched since.

Ok, some of the pictures were kind passable, but it was particularly the horrid writing that made me wish I'd never be able to recover none of it.

01 October 2020, 07:38	#1
Lektroid Registered User Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: UK Posts: 122	This is driving me insane... Around the end of the '90s I moved out of my flat into a house, in the move I forgot to empty a shed and a large walk-in cupboard. There was a load of cast iron weightlifting stuff in the shed and a racing bicycle, I don't really feel any loss for that stuff since it's all replaceable items. However, in the walk-in cupboard there were about 400 disks (5 boxes) full of my unreleased music (.mod/.med files) which I'd written over a 10 year span from 1989 onwards, not to mention the huge sample collection I'd built up. Some of it was released onto vinyl in the early '90s, but the majority of it never went further than my living room. That's a huge chunk of my music history gone forever. I've recently returned to the Amiga scene, and seeing loads of folk uploading their music files into the scene hurts so bad. I have some of my stuff recorded to various tapes, but can't really do anything with that; would have loved to have the chance to bring it into the studio and polish it so others can hear it, even just listen to and maybe finish some of the unfinished & forgotten work which I never recorded to tape. What I'd give to load those old tunes into my Amiga again. I still have a couple of boxes of music I did on the Atari ST which is ok, but the Amiga was a huge part of my musical journey. I've always said a problem shared is a problem halved, and this one has been eating away at me for a long time.

12 October 2020, 07:40	#12
jizmo Registered Abuser Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Valencia / Spain Posts: 361	The only consolation I can give you is that things that you've lost probably feel more meaningful to you because you lost them than if you'd still have access to them. I'm professional artist with a master's degree in screenwriting and always wished to get my late 80s-early 90s Amiga Deluxe Paint images and written stories back. When I eventually did find the floppies and went through the vigorous process of restoring the aforementioned, I found the old work less exciting than I'd hoped for, and ended up storing it all away on a network disk that I haven't touched since. Ok, some of the pictures were kind passable, but it was particularly the horrid writing that made me wish I'd never be able to recover none of it. Last edited by jizmo; 14 October 2020 at 13:24.

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01 October 2020, 10:03	#2
Psiq Keen Collector Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Herefordshire UK Posts: 120	I know your pain. I wrote a few 8 bit games back in the 80's that were never published, When I sold all my kit to buy an Amiga, my games went with it. It would be great to play them again.

01 October 2020, 11:04	#3
Foebane Banned Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cardiff, UK Age: 51 Posts: 2,871	I wrote a puzzle game called Brainbow that lingered around for a while and only I knew about it, and for some reason I can't remember, the only disk it was on I had in my hand, and was THAT close to destroying it as I didn't really want to bother with it anymore. At the last moment, I thought, why not send it to somewhere like 17-Bit Software (PD suppliers) along with a HAM slideshow I made about Amiga models, and it spread like wildfire from there (the slideshow was boring, they said, but they loved Brainbow!) Ever since, the game has become part of the TOSEC collection, has been reviewed in Amiga Power AND has become part of the Assassins game collection, and I'm glad I did this. It encouraged me to follow up with a second puzzle game, Revolver, that I sent again to 17-Bit Software, and while there was no review this time (although it appeared on Amiga User International's coverdisk!) it was also put onto the Assassins game disks. The final game I released to 17-Bit Software was Dangerous Natives, but it was quite late in the Amiga's life and, I believe, disappeared without a trace. No Assassins, no reviews, nothing.

02 October 2020, 01:35	#7
Lektroid Registered User Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: UK Posts: 122	Looks like my thread got hijacked by something completely irrelevant. Oh well, I guess nobody cares.

02 October 2020, 02:12	#8
T_hairy_bootson Workbitch 1.3 Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 46 Posts: 2,084	I thought it was all pretty relevant, people expressing loss of stuff they created. I'm sorry you lost your music.

02 October 2020, 02:41	#9
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,519	Wish i still had most of the floppies where i had my samples and mod files made between 1989 and 1991

02 October 2020, 11:59	#10
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	"Luckily" I only lost one floppy disk full of my modules by formatting it before hand over to a friend who needed a disk. Later I noticed my mistake and back than it was a nightmare experience. The good old floppy only times without backups. I think to lose creativity material is always a brain killer.

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