An on and off hobby of mine is creating music. Music can be very powerful. It sets your mood. It entertains you. It's emotional. It's international. And it let's you express yourself.
The first device I dabbled with creating sounds on was the Commodore 16, followed by the Commodore 128. Once I had a PC and got into programming, I also stumbled across tracker software — specifically Scream Tracker and Impulse Tracker. These allowed you to play wave files at different speeds placed onto several tracks that were then mixed in order to create background music.
Later, Propellerhead released their ReBirth software, a Roland 303 emulator. And recently (e.g. a few years ago), I've been using Propellerheads amazing Reason software, which I just occasionally play around in.
Here are a few pieces I've created, none of which are particularly spectacular, but have a certain amount of sentimental value and don't sound too bad considering my limited experience.
2006 - Time
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Basically just experimenting with the vocoder.
2005 - Aftermath
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Created with Reason 3. During my search for new and interesting instruments, I happened to play 3 notes that inspired this piece. I actually find it somewhat relaxing.
2005 - Dark Theme
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Created with Reason 3. Initially this was supposed to becoming a short loop for a Halloween home video DVD menu. Then, like everything I touch, it got out of hand and turned into more of an experimental thing. The last minute has a change in style.
1998 - Breaking Barriers
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Creating organic sounding guitar music is quite a challenge when all you have is wave files getting played at different pitch rates. This was my attempt to re-create some sort of lead guitar just jamming away. I've put a fair amount of detail work into the lead guitar and drums. Tried to add as many subtleties as possible to make it sound more acoustic and not computer generated. Did it work? You tell me.
1998 - My Melody
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Created with Impulse Tracker. I can't quite remember, but I think the chords were inspired by House of the rising Sun. The song was supposed to sound like someone opens a little music box whose melody then unfolds into a full-fledged orchestral song. I probably overdid it a bit with the bass which seems to be drowning things out just a bit. The vibrato is a tad bit over the top as well. With some polishing it could probably still be made into a decent piece. Too bad I lost the source (the original .IT file).
1997 - Lonesome
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Started with the chords, then added the rest. Kind of a back-asswards way to make music. The reverbed lead guitar kind of instrument always reminded me of Prince's Purple Rain. I spent quite a bit of time putting variations into the drums to make it sound more organic.
1997 - On the Run
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Created right after the dancing baby. They're pretty similar in style. Towards the end it becomes a bit experimental.
1997 - The dancing baby
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Created with Impulse Tracker. It gets better after the highly annoying beginning. The baby laughter was a single .wav file that people were sending around on DALnet (IRC). No idea where it originated from. I just chopped it up and used it. The dancing baby (created in 3D Studio) was also a small internet phenomenon at the time. This is one of the few songs where I tried to curb my desire to keep adding instruments and more variations to a piece of music until there's no longer any central theme.
1997 - Jingle Bells Medley
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Somewhat experimental. Includes Grandma got run-over by a reindeer, finishes off with a quote from Chevy Chase (Christmas Vacation) — another .wav file that was sent around IRC during those days.
1996 - Bells
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Created with Impulse Tracker. This is an older version and unfortunately in mono. The original source has long been lost.
1996 - The Past
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Unfortunately only in mono. Reused my set of drum and guitar samples yet again.
1996 - Industrial Something
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Created with Impulse Tracker. Unfortunately only in mono. The stereo version had some nice sweeping effects.
1996 - They Live
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Created with Scream Tracker, later imported into Impulse Tracker. Originally two separate files that I painfully merged in ST3. One of my first pieces that actually sounds somewhat like music. Like many of my other tracks, it was influenced by Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie.