A Trip Down Memory Lane

How did John Lennon put it? "Life is what happens while you are making plans." Or something along those lines...

My, my... time certainly flies while life is happening. It practically seems like yesterday when "I got my first real six-string" and set out to become a "rock god". (See Mr. Adam's "Summer of '69" for details about how that turned out.) Yet, that was over 30 years ago...

Going back even further for a moment: In my early teens, I got electrocuted by the first tube-based stereo amplifier I built from old tube radios that people had put curbside, and I was "hooked" on electronics gear ever since. ;)

When the "rock god thing" didn't pan out, my next goal was to become a Tonmeister, but I found out quickly that -- due to a lack of formal classical instrument training -- that door was closed to me. So I did the next best thing and became an electronics engineer, always keeping my love for music alive as a hobby.

Around the time I held my graduation papers in my hands, I added one of the very first keyboards equipped with a MIDI interface to my growing instrument collection: a Crumar Bit One. I loved its rich, analog sounds, and the fact that I could control it with precise parameters that I could store internally and recall at any time.

It wasn't until a few years later that I actually got a computer with a MIDI interface - an Atari ST - that could do something with its (very basic) MIDI implementation, but not without the proper software.

So the time had come for C-Lab's Notator, a (for its time) quite advanced MIDI sequencer program that even could print scores! Very cool! (BTW: That software is the great-granddaddy of today's Apple Logic.)

Notator couldn't really do much with my Crumar Bit One (because of its very limited, first-generation MIDI implemention), so the desire for more (MIDI-)capable gear arose. Enter the Roland MT-32 - the first sound module compatible with the General MIDI (GM) standard. By today's quality standards, that unit probably qualifies only as a "white noise generator", but back then I was so impressed with its sounds: the strings, the church organ, and let's not forget: Shakuhachi forever! :)

Of course, there was always something better lurking around the corner, and soon the amazing sounds of the MT-32 were seriously topped by one of Ray Kurzweil's first instrument creations: the stunningly realistic-sounding Kurzweil K-1000.

Of course, there had to be a way to mix the audio outputs of all three devices, and enjoying being on "the leading edge" (sometimes "the bleeding edge" was more like it), I opted for one of the first computer-controlled mixers (the very first?) - a Doepfer CCM. It was a DIY kit, so it was time to get my soldering gear busy. When it was finally built, a second Atari computer had to be added to run its (sluggish) control program.

Despite all the shortcomings (by today's standards), it was "the coolest thing on the block", and one could even make great-sounding music with the whole setup.

Still, somehow my interest waned, once the whole computer-based recording studio was built, and my busy job also left me with less and less time to get creative with it.

The MT-32's big brother, the Roland D-110, got added to the mix a couple years later when it came out, and while it was a huge improvement over the MT-32, all my gear started seeing less and less action, collecting dust, and eventually got auctioned off on eBay for pennies on the dollar.

For quite a few years, I thought I was done with my once so beloved hobby. General disenchantment with what the big music conglomerates had been churning out since the 90s made me turn away even further from music.

So why am I sharing all this? Because, miraculously, buried in all this general disenchantment with music was a small seed, and eventually that seed sprouted and grew into a renewed passion for creating music.

So, here I am in 2007, getting ready "to show those Sony BMGs and Universals of this world" that real music is alive and kicking! (Modesty is overrated, don't you think? ;)

Of course, the landscape of computer-based music creation has completely changed since I dabbled with those Atari computers and my trusty ole MIDI devices (of which the D-110, surprisingly, is still around as "the last survivor").

That pretty much means unlearning most of "the old ways" and familiarizing myself with a "brave new electronic music creation world". (Okay, the basics of MIDI are still the same; analog synths -- or their VST counterparts -- still have VCOs, VCFs, LFOs etc. as their basic functional units; the fundamental principles of mixing and mastering haven't changed; and nothing can replace a musical ear -- or make up for the lack of one.)

I'm looking forward to this exploration, saying to myself (doing my very best Jean-Luc Picard impression): "Let's see what's out there... engage!"