Category: Interviews

  • Oliver Wittchow Interview pt1

    nanoloopFor our third interview, I was lucky enough to talk to a gentleman who needs no introduction, Oliver Wittchow, developer of the highly respected Nanoloop music software. In the first part, we talk a little about Oliver’s background, the very first performance using Nanoloop and the port that never was. A quick thanks to Peter and Matt who suggested a couple of very interesting topics for questions. This interview was conducted by email over a period of about a month and I would like to thank Oliver for his time and detailed answers.

    Click here to read the full interview!

  • GM4A Interviews II Netlabel

    Missed this from earlier in the week, but GM4A has interviewed the II Netlabel. Some choice excerpts:

    When you started your label, what were your initial goals and ideas for what you wanted out of your site?

    R: We initially wanted Pause to be a team of musicians who exclusively released all of their music on Pause, essentially to use the site as a homepage on the web. It was going to be the place for this small group of artists to have all their music either available or linked to, blogs, and all sorts of information that people might care about. Ultimately we decided to go for a broader variety of releases and pass on the team idea, at least for the time being.

    E: The idea was that we’d get more exposure if we made one website instead of as individuals. As Pause grows we get new ideas and set new goals. I guess now one of the main goals would be to find ways to generate some income, so we can treat our fans to more merchandise, gigs and what not. But for the time being, Pause is still just on the hobby level.

  • Interview with LGPT creator Marc Nostromo pt2

    lvptThis is the conclusion of Monday’s interview with LGPT dev Marc Nostromo. We talk about the history of Piggy Tracker’s development, possible future features and some information on the excellent netlabel/band of hooligans Hexawe

    LB: So how did the idea for Piggy come about?

    Marc: well, I had been using LSDJ for a while and even tho I was in love with the program, I longed to have the same flexibility with another type of sound generation. No matter how you like the Gameboy sound, there is a moment where you get tired of it, especially if, like me, you do your tracks without mixing techniques, synths and so on. I wanted to have something similar for samples and midi. I remember having a few chats with Starpause and Firestarter about it and we all got very excited about the perspective. So I went for it.

    LB: Did you plan to work on the GP32 from the outset or were you deving on PC without a particular platform in mind?

    Marc: It’s always been the main goal to do a hand-held program and to stick with the LSDJ interface. I was looking at a couple of options possible at the time: DS, PSP and GP32. The home-brew scene on DS & PSP was already pretty strong but it was constantly moving, so rather than trying to base myself on moving ground, I decided to go for the GP32. Especially that the idea of a company distributing an open platform like Gamepark did was great so I was happy to jump on that boat
    (more…)

  • Interview with LGPT creator Marc Nostromo pt1

    lvptThis week we speak with Marc Nostromo, the creator of the excellent Little Gamepark Tracker, a LSDJ style sequencer for various handhelds like the PSP and OS’s. He also records music under the name M-.-n, and blogs about electronic music at NoisePages. Today is part I of a two part interview, where we get into Marc’s background, his LSDJ based music, and what it was like playing the Blip Festival.

    LB: First off thanks very much for agreeing to the interview

    Marc: My pleasure.

    LB: Were you a programmer first then a musician or the other way around?

    Marc: I actually have still some trouble to consider myself as a musician.

    LB: I will talk about this a little later but I think most people would say you manage to do both pretty well. What sort of computers were about when you became interested in programming?

    Marc: My first programmable unit was a TI-98. Not really anything fancy but it got me hooked. Then I went Sinclair ZX-81 (my first assembly code), Vic 20, C64, Amiga and finally PC. I got really sad at the time to drop the Amiga since it took ages for the pc to even reach the level of sound flexibility of the Amiga but I had to keep with times I guess.

    LB: Why did you switch to the Vic20 after the ZX81 rather than staying with Sinclair?

    Marc: I don’t think there was a specific reason. Either it came out before or it looked more sturdy. The Sinclair experience was good but to be properly set-up the ZX-81 looked like a cobweb of wires and extensions all over the place. Compared to that, the all-in-one and proper keyboard of the VIC looked like heaven sent. I think I said to my mum at the time ‘this is the computer I well ever need’.. which was a little naive I guess

    LB: The ZX81 PSU got REALLY hot if I remember rightly too.

    Marc: yeah, and if you wiggled the extension a little too much you would easily loose everything

    LB: I had that happen a time or two myself. Which model Amiga did you have?

    Marc: A simple A500. I loved that machine. It’s been the playground of a lot of my first explorations.. sound, 3D.. multi-process environment. It was a truly amazing machine for the times
    (more…)

  • noteNdo on East Village Radio

    romsJeff Donaldson, aka noteNdo, appeared this morning on East Village Radio,  a station which “is dedicated to streaming and linking the music, art, culture and community of the East Village, NYC into the world’s conscience”. Jeff is interviewed around the 57:00 mark, and then he plays tracks, the playlist of which can be found at the show page.

    Listen