AN
INTERVIEW WITH
TIMBRAL OF DHS
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Some months ago there was a nice post on DHS from a lonely musician looking
for ppl willing to work with him, namely Timbral. Soon enough the guy was
captured by Evil and his demonish crew
We haven't seen, or better said heard, a lot from him esp his module entry
at Error In Line 3... Maybe his tunes were planned to be used in DHS new CT060
based demo, delayed due to the non shipping of the so long awaited accelerating
card. Still it's not everyday new and motivated ppl ask for a job so let's use
some time to know more about him !
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STS : Hi Timbral ! Would you please start with telling us about yourself :
real name, age, occupation and country too since I don't have a clue about it
to speak the truth Also what is your Scene background ?
Timbral : Hi, well... My real name is Martin Knutsson and I was born in 1982
which makes me 21 years old. I am originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, but I am
now studying at the University of Karlstad to become an engineer in design. My
Scene background is on the "intel"-side. I got a pentium back in 1995 and I
started tracking modules and doing some pixelworks on it. I believe I attended
my first demoparty in '98 or '99, and I have also been working as sound tech at
the 2 demoparties named underscore 2001 and underscore 2002 (www.underscore.sh)
STS : We don't know much about you except that you are a musician : do you
both compose chips and modules ? What tools do you use ? Are you a newcomer or
have you already produced tunes for some prods, including non Atari machines ?
Timbral : At the moment I am focused on tracking my YM2149, using SidSound
Designer, but there are some old 4 channels (Amiga Protracker) and mltchn
(Fasttracker II) modules to find (from back when I was contributing for the
groups Parzek and Evil Inc.). I have also been working with MIDI. Me and a
friend of mine started up in '98 with an apple, a few synthesizers and later a
pair of turntables. Our band name was dromendar (former dromNdar). Material
could be difficult to find, but try run a search for those names in google. I
uploaded some mod,xm and mp3 to Fading Twilight, so who knows, maybe they will
be featured on a compilation some day.
Since I have no apple anymore, I am using my Falcon for all of my MIDI works.
I must say I am impressed by its capability! There is some material at my web
at timbral.dhs.nu.
STS : Then of course I have to wonder what made you write that post on DHS.
Are you a Scene addict ? A former Atarian ? c'mon, I wanna know and surely I'm
not the only one !
Timbral : I wouldn't say I am a Scene addict. Ok, it can be quite nice
working your butt off with a compo that has a few hours until deadline, meet
lots of nice people, hearing / seeing their contributions. Though I have lately
been forced to put other things before going to demoparties.
A former Atarian ? Yep, I suppose that is the reason why I am sitting here today
doing this interview. In my childhood I had a 520ST with a bunch of nice programs
and games. In the early or mid 90's I packed the ST into a box together with
all floppies, diskdrives and command controls and put it in the attic. Then not
many years ago I felt like setting up the machine and play a little, and it
showed that my parents threw it away when we were moving to another house,
and I then decided to get me a new Atari. So in 2001 I commenced hunting
and in the autumn I found an Atari Falcon for sale in Gothenburg. I started to use
the machine in 2002, not earlier since I was in military service training for the
Swedish Marines during a year. However, I found that there were people still
active on the machine and I just thought that it would be fun to make a
contribution. I have loved the YM2149-chip sound from the first time I heard
it; digidrum-tracking and from playing games with music by among others David
Whitaker and Jochen Hippel. Why not see what this baby can do ?
STS : What are your projects now ? Good news is that you're going to work
with DHS which is - courtesy of Evil - one of the best and most active Atari
crew ! Were you supposed to work on a CT060 specific demo ?
Timbral : At the moment I am trying to figure out how to control New Beat's
ACE Tracker. I downloaded it a few days ago and I have not had time to sit down
with it yet. Upcoming projects will most certainly be to compose musics for
CT60-demos. Since there will almost be no limitations with that accelerator
there might even be some MIDI -> Mp2-tunes in the demos, not only ACE-tunes.
We'll have to wait and see Even though this new accelerator opens up a lot of
possibilities, I love the YM2149-sound I will not stop tracking the chip.
STS : What are your first feelings about our Scene ? As I write this, I
still dunno if you know the Atari Scene at all or not. Maybe you also have
knowledge of the atari Scene from the Golden Years ?
Timbral : By browsing the internet for old Atari releases, catching up on the
ten years of Atari that I have missed, I have formed an opinion. I think that
the Atari Scene is a small but highly qualified Scene. The people involved in
the "business" are in my opinion the best there are on what they are doing. Of
course, the Atarians have had almost 20 years to evolve.
STS : I don't think you were at Error In Line 3 but maybe I'm wrong. There
were so many nice ppl there that it was hard to talk to all of them. If you
were there give us your opinion and if not, tell us why you didn't attend.
Timbral : You are right. I wasn't at the Error In Line 3, partly because my
economy wasn't allowing me. My planning had not foreseen that my studies would
have this darn many books this semester !
STS : Then do you plan to attend another ATARI party ? It's hard to say much
about you since we know so little I hope this is the beginning for you !
Timbral : Yes, I am planning to pay Nordic Atari Show 2003 a visit, which
accuatly will be my first Atari meeting EVER. It will be held in Gothenburg
this summer and I am looking forward to it since I missed the Error In Line 3.
STS : Are you interested in accelerated Falcons ? Since you now are a member
of DHS, that's one topic that has to make you react
Timbral : Yes, DHS is working on demos for accelerated Falcons, and I am
beginning to understand that I will need a few more MHz output from my own
machine to be able to enjoy the releases. At the moment I have a nemesis
installed, though I cannot use it since there is a conflict between the
accelerator and my 30-pin RAM-board. I will probably be forced buy a CT60, to
ensure that my machine will be able to show future releases.
STS : Do you think we are living the last years of the ATARI Scene or is it
another ressurection ? I guess you know that the ATARI ST will grow 20 years
old in 2005 !
Timbral : I think that a new resurrection is a little too much to hope for.
Regular people just doesn't unpack their machines from the attic to start
contributing to the Scene. Maybe they would unpack it for other reasons, like
gameing for a day. Though, I suppose there are still a few people like us left
in the world, who will not leave the grey machine without a fight, who enjoys
the sound of the YM2149, who loves the feeling of typing on the keyboard... Let
us hope that the Atari Scene will live for many years to come. If not, I know
at least one guy who in the age of retirement will sit in the rocking chair
tracking his YM-chip.
STS : Hmm I have to think of a last question now. Do you have knowledge of
other Scenes ? What do you think of them ? What does the ATARI Scene represent
to you ?
Timbral : I have been involved in the PC Scene for a few years, contributed
with musics and graphics, that is about it. I think that the PC Scene produces
a lot of good compos, but there are also a lot of bad compos. At the Atari
platform I have only seen nice productions so far. In my eyes, the Atarians are
people radiating skill and confidence.
STS : pfu here we are with the final torture better known among our victims
as the brainstorming trial ! Use your brain and fill in the blanks now :
T : Too many letters here!
I : Intermittent lack of sleep.
M : Machines are often nicer than people.
B : Beer is nutritious
R : Restans equals Voltage through Current.
A : Algorithms make me confused.
L : LoFi.
D : Dandruff is annoying.
E : Etnies are comfortable footwear.
A : Active.
D : Dodge Viper.
H : Hello Kitty? Naah...
A : Amphibious Task Unit (ATU).
C : Cereal.
K : Katana.
E : Elektro.
R : RIAA sucks!
S : Stay cool, stay ATARI!
S : Smultronpaj.
O : Origo is optional.
C : Coffee is necessary.
I : I.D.I.O.T. (my student society)
E : Experiments.
T : Take Away-Sushi.
Y : YM2149 owns.
STS : Yeah I know this one was tricky esp using the full name of your new
crew I hope we're going to hear a LOT from you in a near future ! Anything
you want to say now ?
Timbral : I just want to thank you for this interview, which was kind of
tricky sometimes. I hope you have gotten a little knowledge in who I am and
what I do. I am glad to have been so gently recieved in this little society
and I will try to make contributions now and then. Take care everyone !
STS : Thanks for giving us some of your time ! Good luck with your next
projects and welcome aboard man !
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