MIDI Studio: 1993

Getting my first PC (a 386) seriously re-introduced me to sequencer software (my first seq was WinJammer, if I recall) and music programming, something which had laid dormant in me for almost ten years.  After getting my first MIDI keyboard, the Roland JX-1, I gave it a permanent home on my desk. During this time, I learned something about SysEx, as used by the JX-1 to receive and transmit slider values. I thought it was pretty hardcore. I invested in small plastic battery-driven PC loudspeakers. Active monitors, as it were.

Sadly, no pictures exist of that setup, but you’re not really missing out on much.

Musical Output From This Period

This next paragraph is from elsewhere on this site, but it’s worth repeating in context: Late one night in 1993, while studying for an exam the following day, it occurred to me that composing was basically just a matter of putting notes in an order which sounded pleasing, and to surround them with even more notes in another pleasing order. So I skipped studying that night and wrote/produced my first song ever, from start to finish, following the by then very familiar Depeche Mode song structure. After the exam (which I, amazingly, passed, even though not having slept the night before), I went home, pulled another allnighter and sequenced my second song, went to bed, slept the entire following day and got up and immediately produced my third one. Needless to say, I was hooked and absolutely amazed I had it in me.

[Edit 29.11.2021] Yesterday I found the actual exam paper in question, dated 1993-09-03, so I can now happily state that my first song ever was made 1993-09-02.

During this period I started close to twenty songs, but they remained in Under Construction-mode for quite some time. Many of them were never finished, but maybe one day…

The original versions of my first three tracks have been lost. They are probably on a C-cassette somewhere, as in those days I couldn’t record onto the hard drive. These versions are structurally the same (same individual melodies), but the sounds are different (except for the lead sound the JX-1 makes in each song). The original Gravis Ultrasound sounds have been replaced with SC-88 and Akai S-2000.