As for my own connection with computer music (and old computers in general), it’s a very typical story. If my memory serves me right, my journey with C64 began in about the year 1989 when my parents bought me and my brother a C128 (it had a built-in C64 mode) with loads of games from some Commodore aficionados who had “grown too old†for computer games.
(Apparently at that time only few knew what nostalgia stood for and some people wanted to get rid of computers simply because they were under the delusion that they’d be too “grown up†to mess around with computers, let alone play games…) My usage of Commodore was then interrupted in about 1992 when my parents bought an Amiga 500 and finally ended in about 1994 when it was turn for PC… Of course I used to play those old games on PC with emulators as long ago as in about 1995 and I continued doing the same thing for some years but, to the best of my recollection, there came an unfortunately long pause during which I didn’t use Commodore emulators, and to crown the lot I didn’t even realize how great C64 and Amiga music was at that time.Now that I’m older, I’ve gradually started to look back on the good old days with those old computers and immerse myself in the computer-generated music of that time. Quite frankly, most of the games I played in the late 80’s and early 90’s cannot be considered so great anymore but what I have to say is that I’ve been dumbfounded by how well most SIDs have aged despite the primitiveness of the SID sound chip (or maybe it’s specifically due to the primitiveness)! Roughly the same nostalgic “adoration†applies to MOD-based Amiga music as well. For some strange, inexplicable reason, many of the melodies seem very catchy now that I listen to the SIDs and MODs after all these years. Besides, as you would guess, I get that typical, very nostalgic feeling while listening to the old music. I don’t know what you think on this forum, but I’m of the opinion that there’s just something that a great part of all this new music created with brand new and top-notch gadgets lacks!
Despite huge differences in all the arrangers’ talent, the quality of production and so forth, the overall level of all these remixes at Remix64.com seems to be fairly good. There is surely a real challenge in remixing old SIDs which, as Galway said, may be meant to be heard as such… but what makes this more fascinating is that some people in the music industry seem to be somewhat interested in old computer-generated music as well and some have already tried to plagiarize old songs. In all fairness I ought to say that they wouldn’t do so if they regarded the old songs as some horrible 8-bit dross!
The bottom line is that there was something very special about Commodore 64 and Amiga (500) music, and it should be remembered with affection!
Huh, by the way, did I get too emotional?! Well, when it's about nostalgic feelings for C64, there can only be a bit too exaggerated and high-sounding phrases full of sentiment!
But there are still grains of truth in what I wrote!
rushed it home, hooked it up to a diminutive black and white telly (i still have it, the screen is 11cm diagonal) and played international karate 