Commodore Remix

Weeeelll, the Sensible Soundware thing isn't happening, but the Sound of Games thing is...

There's a few things I regret not having been able to do:

1) A proper stage show at the Bloomsbury Theatre (this would have happened if madfiddler hadn't gone on holiday the week the theatre was available)
2) A live orchestral concert (would have cost around £60,000)
3) A mock orchestral version of Bogg's "Grouting", and an epic filmic version of Last Ninja Wastelands Loader (for BIT 4 and 5).

Looking forward to the farewell podcast(s) with Kenz, but that will take a few months to put together... it will definitely include "Worst Remixes Ever"!

Shame to see these times come but I totally understand that people move on. Myself I will refuse to take off my rose tinted specs and continue to listen to the BIT cd's along with the others (no matter how bad you think some of them are Chris ). I guess being tone deaf helps!

Be a shame seeing the end of c64audio but have to say thanks for all you have done over the years.. Getting all misty eyed now.. Ahhhh...

I'm actually pretty proud of BIT 2 and 3, and BIT 1 has its moments (and, as Kenz puts it "A retro gumby charm") The best tunes on BIT 2 aren't mine though, I was pretty much just filler on that album!

I suppose everybody has to step down sometime. Still, it looks as though you can stake some kind of place as a Commodore elder statesman.

Perhaps not a Churchill or MacMillan, in Dunn or Hubbard's league. Maybe a Quentin Hogg or Willie Whitelaw though, a sizeable name but not a total legend!

Chris Abbott wrote:I'm actually pretty proud of BIT 2 and 3, and BIT 1 has its moments (and, as Kenz puts it "A retro gumby charm") The best tunes on BIT 2 aren't mine though, I was pretty much just filler on that album!

BIT3 gets more replays than any other C64Audio release. Well, perhaps not Crystal Dreamscapes - but it's up there.

it would appear that you have been under charging for your goods Chris:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... dition=new

Or undercharging... "$0.01 + $3.99 shipping"

I wonder why people even bother putting these listings up...

Chris I don't know what to say, and where to start. I know times are changing. Good things go and sometimes it's inevitable. My full respect and thanks go to you man.

Without C64Aduio.com probably I would not find the remix scene. That was the very first scene site I accidentally found around late 2008 and lsitening to the tracks I was just blown away. I was not aware of the 8-bit scene in general, around the time I was neck-deep in other things and I kept all my online activities quite restricted. I haven't turned on my C64 for 15 years or so. I thought the SID died with me as I was the only around my place who still used it, even back then. You can guess the positive shock that I had.

C64Audio opened SID remixing and started a positive chain reaction to me. I started to dig up my ancient unreleased SIDs, for my initial HVSC entry I could find 50 or so of them. I made a remix album where I got great advices and insight from you. Joined the flourishing C64 scene. Re-started composing SIDs after 15 years of silence. Became a member of active groups. Tested new SID trackers. Contributed to demos games and other releases - everything that I missed back in time (scene around my place sucked hard, I became a lone wolf). Started to go to scene parties and met great people. Formed SIDrip Alliance with scene fellows Hermit, Vincenzo and Chabee. Played live old favourites some improbable roller coaster music that wasn't intended for live play (Hey Ben ) and had an ample of fun.

Besides, after spending almost 2 decades in the underground metal scene I burned out there. SID and remixing re-started musical inspiration and as a positive side effect we could continue releasing new songs with my old dawg band Wackor (actually with a couple of heavily modded SIDs of mine in the tracklist). And so on and on. There are zounds of reasons that I can say thank you man!

Check my sig @CSDb. It is unchanged since I re-joined C64 in 2009, it sums up everything:

http://csdb.dk/scener/?id=20082

Kudos man!

Aw, thanks I admire your work, and it's great that you really made the most of your "second life".

What's odd is that if you try to leave the SID scene, it finds a way to pull you back in....

In my case, I think it shows that with life as with people, if you want to bargain for what you really want, sometimes you have to be mentally prepared to walk away...

Chris, what you have done is likely single handedly the biggest positive thing to happen to the C64 remix scene. You have put people in touch with each other who probably would never have, and for this i appreciate all of the effort you have put in over the years. You'll never lose the impact you have made, remember that!

Thanks Mark... er... the exit didn't quite go as planned We should catch up with a natter.

You're always welcome if you're ever up Warwickshire way mate!

It seems like only yesterday that I was excitedly downloading Chris' General MIDI and Yamaha soundfont interpretations of SID songs from his website.

(Checks watch..) Hmm, not yesterday, then. Actually, it was 1997. Seventeen (count 'em) years ago.

It was the first time I'd bumped into such elaborate and passionate efforts online, having only recently gained permanent internet access. Once I'd exhausted Chris' works I searched and searched for similar "remixes" (no doubt via Yahoo or Altavista) but came away empty-handed. He's too modest to concede this, but I'm certain that Chris invented the concept of dragging SID songs into the digital age for general enjoyment. Of course, there had been many hundreds of (mostly crude) SMUS/MOD/XM/S3M/similar SID covers through the 80s/90s, but it was Chris' reproductions that were first to exploit the embryonic wavetable soundcards of the day. To tremendous effect.

Full disclosure: Chris' early website offerings inspired me to knock together my own efforts, but Amiga-based, intended for audio CD release. In fact, my "AMIGA DECADE" CD was nearing completion just as Chris announced his own Back In Time C64 CD. My album "AMIGA DECADE" was conceived as a limited edition free gift for anyone who purchased the "AMIGA DECADE" data CD-ROM containing the archive of the website I was running at the time (Lazarus) but it never came to pass. Probably for the best, as my Cakewalk-based homages to Amiga classics were very much "of their time" (being 1997 that meant euro house, trance, trip hop and drum and bass). The non-appearance of "AMIGA DECADE" was no great loss!

Ever since, I've been meaning to contribute a C64 or Amiga remix here and there. I've been meaning to engage with like-minded people - the sort of discerning fans of SID songs I never dreamed existed when I was dialing BBSs in the mid 90s trying to find new PlaySID files for my Amiga. Too late now. I was content to listen to others' work; eavesdrop on others' conversations. There were a few missed opportunities along the way, occasionally putting my well-meaning head above the parapet, but that was a very long time ago now. Disappointed I didn't play my part in the legacy.

That legacy, by the way... Chris has made all sorts of crazy things happen that, frankly, shouldn't have, for all sorts of reasons. But how amazing that they did...

SID music on the BBC News in the West Midlands - a fully-formed feature within a programme with a potential audience of four million
Club nights playing SID music - the owner/bar staff/bouncer must have thought there was a new drug sweeping the nation
Concerts - a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness our SID heroes not only in the flesh, but *performing* in the flesh - ROB HUBBARD - LIVE - it happened! Can you BELIEVE that!?
All those lovingly-crafted interpretations as showcased on the BIT CDs that inspired so many others - without Chris, who else would have started the ball rolling, and when?
Representation of our SID heroes - putting a few quid in Dave "Jas C Brooke" Whittaker's pocket; trying to extract a few from Timberlake's...
And more!

THREE CHEERS FOR CHRIS!

Will there be one last hurrah for this scene, for those still interested?
Does 2017 mark 20 years of High Technology/Chris' original website?
If so, let's all plan and save up for an event worthy of such an occassion... I've missed so much along the journey, but I wouldn't miss that!

Thanks Mark!

BTW, look at your remix64.com/board front page again.


Chris

Is Chris that important then?

Well that is interesting. If he invented this whole SID reworking thing (or helped pioneerit), then he's more or less on the level of those who led the charge making micro music a scene.