Micro Live - Computer Music in 1985

[5X0D]

1985 - Computer drum machine from BOOTS!

2011 - What went wrong?

[InsideCorrosion]

I love this video so much, I was just three years old when this was made. Fucking EPIC

[MishyFan]

"Oh yes, a bit like a banjo isn't it?" No, not really Fred. lol

[fuzzface100]

Is that a cardboard tie Fred Harris is wearing?

[kizziesian]

I FUCKING LOVE THIS VIDEO!!!

[jonnda]

Now I miss MusicWorks for my old Mac Classic.

[pallypower3000]

Imagine how dubstep will sound on this advance piece of tech!

[JiggyGinJoints]

@pallypower3000 maybe good

[hollidaysrain]

more fucking cowbell

[TheTrueJBV3737]

Cowbell,,,,, rofl.

[Funkmastabuzz]

WOW imagine what computers will be doing next

[keogh7776]

rob papen is shitting himself!!!!!! why didnt i use my c64 for this instead of bubble bobble, dam you bubble bobble

[FeNsTa]

makes me drool thinking of how exciting all that stuff was back in those days. we are spoiled now......

[BeatMakerTV]

Sweet. Great vid. ZX is cool

[wildone106]

Look at the size of that robot lmao

[rebelVHS]

Fred Harris! Had forgotten all about him. Smart guy.

This band were touring with micros in the mid-80's-

In YouTube, search for 'LELULUS'

[jkk45]

Before the days of cubase?

[jmm1233]

i remember this

[sixahem]

in a time before usb and firewire! Amazing how much things changed!!:-)

[theshinywolf]

i wanna travel back in time and show them logic pro running on a macbook pro...

[DomeArmin]

WOW. I wondered about the source code.

[michelformika]

How complex.

[henriklizell]

4:22

[CottonInDerTube]

6:20 would he say that today again?

=)

[Freezpopp]

@CottonInDerTube well yeah, if it sounded like that today

[zeta1ret]

COW BELL!!! MORE COW BELL!!!

[KoldunOne]

ZX like a MPC)))

[chattychar]

more cowbell!

[waynemulley]

Little known fact- Fred Harris is now the drummer for Cradle of Filth...

[vapourmile]

It's hard to decide my favourite bit. How does one choose between Fred chipping in a clunky scripted question to get to the segue-way that takes us to the MIDI section... no it's definitely the Roland demonstrator pointing at his finger at 8:43! Joy.

[Flickyhecky]

Fred's really getting into the groove!

[keddebork]

is there a free modern program like this?

[ElBerto]

@keddebork Yes - 'Little Drummer Boy' springs to mind. But there are other options.

[THkaas]

they should've waited 2 years for the first trackers to appear...

[KINGxUxTUBE]

is this a repeat or have i missed it?

[OnlyGoodCommie]

My Commodore machines are integral to my home recording studio. Click my name to discover my Commodore 64 videos. Or view my other page, THEDUSTPILE, to hear some great chiptunes on my videos.

Or visit dustybin org uk for mountains of Commodore 64 music software and other goodies I have collected.

[jkk45]

the year that cubase was released..........

[cookie123456789012]

What is the name of the music software for the C64?

[harleykman]

1985 is the year the Commodore Amiga was released

.

It had a sound chip that was never surpassed until about eight years later

.



[TrowbridgeHardcore]

roland tr 707 baby

[JOCKATEO]

firebird i remember them they did games aswell

[MarkTheMorose]

@JOCKATEO They sure did; they bought the rights to release the Acornsoft game Elite for non-Acorn computers, for one. I seem to recall the non-Acorn versions of Zarch - known as Virus - being distributed by them, too.

[JOCKATEO]

@MarkTheMorose thanks mate for that as those were the good old days

[mobb0ss]

haircuts are so retro xd

[ALXXMaXX]

The specdrum actually sounds fairly realistic.

[Grizzly696]

whens ths coming out? I don't think my computer can handle it though.

[HarryMatic]

The tune he plays at 8:39 sounds just like the vibrato effects on Road Rash for the Sega Megadrive. :)

[walter0bz]

BBC micro lives - ARM architecture

[beardsarecool]

and sounds just like a banjo.

[beardsarecool]

Only available from Boots.

[cookie123456789012]

Whats the Commodore 64 Music software called?

[TheDustpile]

@cookie123456789012 The Advanced Music System.

Actually, if you Google in COMMODORE REMIX NEWBIE PLEASE ADVISE, you'll find a forum reply I wrote mentioning the program, and a download I myself put up.

[cookie123456789012]

Whats the Commodore 64 Music software called?

[cookie123456789012]

I love the music

[brainac0cult]

aw dammit, is this a repeat? because I think I missed the supersaw programme! ;(

[hyphz]

Oh, and they didn't mention the Apple Mockingboard, which was really impressive and even older. :)

[hyphz]

LOL, Advanced Music Studio. I remember that. It used LensLok. It would take about 4 hours to get past the copy protection, and that was with a 100% legal copy.

[RanmaChanAndKunoKun]

was retro XD still I prefer Ejay

[ybot1983]

Boffins

[kb1629]

Just ordered my copy. Can't wait to get it.

[HakerzTM]

lol

[StuartFerguson88]

Love the Section on MIDI!

There just aren't enough programs about MIDI on TV anymore!

Rock that 707!

[BuzzcutGtr]

Wow, this is GREAT! I remember when the whole MIDI revolution started - as a (painfully young and stupid) guitarist, I was neither interested in computers nor keyboards. Took me several years - about the time I bought a Yamaha RX-5 drum machine - to realize how very much I'd missed the boat on both fronts.

[GloomMidoriHikkuko]

This dude is my idol ;D

[panacea999]

Check out his tie!

[NOWtheband]

this is how music will be made in the year 2000!

[mandoza3]

if were lucky

[bobslayer1881]

i just dont like pop music XD

[Hotshotter3000]

@NOWtheband My god! And It's only 1986, I should surely not live to see that mystical year in which we shall vanquish world hunger, war, inequality and other vices of humanity.

[NOWtheband]

@Hotshotter3000 - yes, who knows what it willl be like then with hovering cars & all-in-one-silver-jumpsuits & whatnot!!!?

personally, i imagine it will be like some kind ov etherial utopian paradise!

!

[OnlyGoodCommie]

My Commodore 64 has many add-ons for music and storage, including classic keyboards, PCs and music interfaces. I enjoy my home studio work immensely with classic gear.

Look at CHIPTUNE: COMMODORE 64, HAMMOND B4, ROLAND JD-800); "COOTY" for my latest Commodore chiptune.

Either that or grab COMMODORE 64 MUSIC MAKER PROMOTIONAL FLEXIDISC for an old advert for the old keyboard tool.

Do drop in and rate.

[nGenOHydra]

its amazing what they could already do at this time. Im proud to be one of the guys to continue this :)

[balsingh1]

didnt realise terms like 'cut and paste' dated back that far!!

[ydrjtt]

Great video. Historically informative. Thanks for the upload.

[DnBBoo]

tr 707

[GudmundurThor96]

WOW music software technology has gone very far but the clothing is ugly

[daniel1982]

"Believe it or not, that is a C64!", only the SID can produce that fucking sound. You were underestimating it there for a moment, wanker.

SID FOREVER!

[673Subliminal]

wow, they made all the best stuff then, no wonder all the stuff nowadays is rubbish XD

[havvacuppa]

That comment doesnt even make any sense.  Think before you type.

[Firefoxfifty]

Ah....the specdrum....the memories!! :-)

[vaj99]

What is freffs real name?

[powderfinger71]

Tony could only be from 1985

[Maranellolt7]

a bit of cowbell there.

[Gnorris73]

Alan Townsend - Roland Product Specialist , able to phase in and out of reality.

[UncleFeedle]

At age 14, I bought the Music System from the distributor in Sheffield (actually went to their door!). The sodding disks stopped working after a few months. Arse!

[dysphemic]

fuck yeah thats some dope shit

haha

[mavisp]

What nostalgia. BBC Micro Live made me the nerd I am today! :) Friday nights used to be quality, this and "The Invaders".

Machines still look epic. The fashion certainly doesn't!

[mowwam]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha look around you!!

[McCrawwmac]

haha i was thinking that

[Cactiphile]

I remember using the Music System on the BBC B - damn Im getting old.

[campfreddie]

sweet - the music at 5:47 sounds like Belbury Poly

[ApotheosisWolf]

Hell yeah, Belbury Poly! Ghost Box is the reason why I'm watching vids like this, haha

[teaknees]

Hahaha, I love how they go "some of the anomalies of the government's data protection act" then cut straight to the robot on the stairs... like it's the anomaly

[deused]

Great stuff

[axeman3d]

Good God, I feel old. SID chips kicked ass, now I feel like I lived in the time of dinosaurs.

[jamontoastst]

That C64 guy has epic fashion... love the hair and suit!

[emailrob]

Kempston joystick! Have to load the joystick driver on tape (5 minutes) then load the game (5 minutes). Keep quiet and don't move too much, else the loading will crash :)

[alcockell]

@emailrob , a lot of Spectrum games had the Kempston code compiled into their binaries (look at Jetpac for example)..

[seehispugnosedface]

this is heralded as a good thing. 20 years later, this stuff has raped popular music.

[svenbohikus]

But 10 years before that it rocked the earth from Detroit to Ibiza!

[nimbin015]

I want to be 8 years old again :(

[shaurz]

DIN plugs have gone out of fashion. For shame...

[owenj2o]

They're still used in some devices. Some lighting desks use DIN plugs so you can remotely fire cues.

[thetragicclown]

"Only available from Boots."

I remember getting all my Speccy peripherals and budget games from Boots. :)

[pigpenthegreat]

SID ftw, Breadbox FTW!

[LeightonJimbo]

Needs more cowbell...

[dench28]

@LeightonJimbo

LOL

[TheClockworkGamer]

@LeightonJimbo Never question Bruce Dickinson!

[geofferzh79]

1985 thas nuts I would love the 707

[RamzGT]

moar cowbell! lol!

zx spectrum FTW

[MishyFan]

ROTFLMAO@ "It's rather like a word processor for drums" !!

[GPhotography101]

I've just been down to Boots to get a Specdrum and the lady looked at me like I was crazy. My self esteem was on a razor's edge already. Now I'm crushed. Please fact check your videos before posting them.

[eskimo427]

@GPhotography101 Boots did sell Computers back in the early 80's.

[eskimo427]

@GPhotography101 Boots did sell Computers back in the early 80's.

[GVike]

MORE COWBELL!!!!

[TimTimTimW]

is that the same owl from The Labyrinth?

[DonnieDarkoNorthwest]

new wave baby!

[darkoon2008]

thats so amazing because i didn't know that in the eighties there is a music composing software.

[oc5nsli341nforce4]

A lot of cool things had their start in the 80s only to be either rediscovered or evolved in the 90s and early 2000s.

[darkoon2008]

that what i talk with my friend yesterday because me and my friend we r a musician i graduate from music science school,and he told me that he saw allot of amazing electric music instruments in the eighties,but this amazing electronic instruments it's died in the early of ninetieth,I hope that they r return it back this amazing instruments.

[bullshotter]

that guys face when he plays his composition. 4:23 classic.

big up fred dropping some techno shit earlier.

[vaughn495]

Nice work. keep it up. mean time come for social media marketing for esteembpo**com jgkkjk

[zathusura78910]

look around you

[hacibaba00]

i love technology. but it makes me lazy..

[annalouise369]

watch this vid /watch?v=cmpaAoY3SQc

Turnip is a very big word

[Borin81]

Commodore 64, not Comadore 64.

just a little heads up.

[NameNotaNumber]

Ah yes, another example of the kind of blatant advertising which goes on at the Beeb despite them taking your license fee: "Priced at 29.95, only available from Boots"...LOL.

[harleykman]

It's too bad this BBC show did not demonstrate a Commodore Amiga. It produced near-CD quality.

For a sample, search for "Battle Squadron amiga" or "spaceballs demo" or "real-time animation 1985 home computer".

[NameNotaNumber]

The Amiga was showcased on Micro Live not long after this episode so I believe. The clip is available on YouTube. I distinctly remember being completely blown away as a kid to see Fred Harris press the spacebar and hear an electric guitar come out.

[b6gm6n]

Fred Harris, Techno GOD! - 20 years prior to Squarepusher... go Fred!

[jvc85]

OMG That program was the 80'is FL Studio oO

[buzzjunked]

they was used at raves you would even find them in recording studios to program all the synth hardware though even today i believe the atari did it best , cubase was just a pain in the neck heh

[hombrerelents]

Penis

[TheTux]

Ha! Ha! Fred Harris!! I remember him! 'Play School', 'Rag Time' and a whole bunch of kids programs in the 70's and 80's....Erm, I guess you would have had to have been there.... I'm showing my age now! Ok, I'm gonna watch the rest of the video now!

[iiimtf44]

he ,made some good music toio

[iiimtf44]

curious man

[rustyredline]

wow the c64 sid chip was 10 times better than spectrum. Still wud much more prefer a speccy 4 Christmas tho

[harleykman]

That's like saying you'd rather have an old Odyssey game console (circa 1975) instead of an Nintendo (1983). That makes no sense.

I'd rather have the more-advanced 8-bit machine.

[rustyredline]

not really the spectrum (circa 1982) had better sprites and more games than c64(circa 1982), plus there were loads more people i had who owned spectrums. You are obviously tryin to mock the spectrum but good sound does not make up for poor gameplay.  In the UK there was a huge home computer war between the two. Can't remeber that with nes and odyssey lmao.

[richardmaudsley77]

spectrum sucked. grahpics sucked, sound sucked, colours sucked, ram ammount sucked, keyboard sucked tape storage sucked...

shall i go on?

[rustyredline]

graphics sucked?!? spectrum used more pixels per sprite than c64 hence c64's blocky graphics, ram sucked 48k and 128k against c64's 40k?!? Tape storage !?! All the home computers used tapes back then. Are you comparing it to today's standards cos you suck and it takes you three weeks to reply thats sad.

[richardmaudsley77]

lol? who cares about resolution when your dealing with that flurecent flickery atribute clashing shit? I don't want epilepsy. And by tape storage i was referring the those shitty spectrum only microdrive things that never worked and cost a fiver each. and the C64 had 64KB ram unexpanded compared to the 16KB of piss most spectrum programs had to try to fit into, thanks to the joy of sinclair intinally being cheapasses.

come back when you get a real keyboard and more than seven colours at a time.

[rustyredline]

seven colours is better than eight shades of shitty brown and blocks. Say this shit on a vid about speccy not c64 waiting for the speccy h8erz to say shit. i wasnt even insulting c64 b4 all you speccy h8erz came out. bitter and jealous c64 fans cos ur machine was shit and if you lived in uk speccy was winner. P.S. who used microdisks i've not but lets not forget what a success the c64gs and its cartridges were lmao.

[richardmaudsley77]

brown and blocks? sorry guy i think you're confused with the ps3 there. lets not forget that the only reason the spectrum got bought was because your dad was cheap. but lets not forget the amstrad ZX internet phone, i thought that shit was broken untill i realised everything is yellow on a real spectrum too.

Hows the demoscene going for you guys! i'm enjoying the exelent music and gfx. theres a reason everyone remembers the SID.

also, remember your keyboard? sinclair must love calculators.

[rustyredline]

you obviously don't know much about speccy cos it still has a huge following and music is still made with the 128k Yamaha chip (spectrum orchestra). you so bitter towards what was a great machine for a lot of people. Also don't call my dad cheap cos you're probably some posh bum boy did you have a BBC micro as well. you getting so personal i would choose a spectrum simple as get over it !!! On keyboard Spectrum rectified this in later models but dont deny how ugly c64 machine to look at was lmao

[zummone]

OMG BRAWL THEME!!

[prototype21]

Yes the man at 0:39 has the right idea, make a robot to work in dangerous places, like disarm a bomb...

And follow 2 feet behind it.

[SirRoflMao]

That was awesome :o

Seems Daft Punk used it ;-)

[ryan0664]

2:24

[futureimage]

Great vid, thanks! The SID still sounds awesome (when used properly).

2:24 = More cowbell.

And agreed, it only just hit me how outdated MIDI really is.

[mistofoles]

What a crap shirt and tie combination!

[dummyspitter]

This is a program about computers not the clothes show ,styles have changed

[minus00]

lol, hiyo! nice, i laughed

[Lachlant1984]

Is that the disk drive next to the Stectrum? I like the sounds of the Specdrum software, I think it sounds more realistic than the software on the Commodore 64. The Commodore 64 sounds very much like the Atari Lynx.

[jci10]

The were many digital players on the C64 that did not require any $50 hardware attachments. Look up C64 Demo Sabrina (digitized sound) and some Eurodemos...

[Lachlant1984]

Cirtainly the SID chip in the Comodore 64 is well known for what it could do back then. Were there any hardware synth add ons for the Comodore 64 that could enhance the sound and make it more realistic? I know that a lot of games took advantage of the SID chip, and the sound capabilities of the Comodore 64 were far above any IBM PC without a sound card.

[jci10]

No,no, my point was that you didn't need any extra hardware to make the C64 produce good drums and there are many famous examples. Most people refer to Rob Hubbard's "Skate or Die" intro, but there are much better ones (often overlooked), Jeroen Tel's "Digi-Piece for teleco" and his Hotwheels theme, other famous examples are StormLord. You're forcing me to upload these songs to my youtube account! Grrrrr!!!

[jci10]

Sorry, the name of the song is Hotrod, not hotwheels... :)

[Lachlant1984]

Look at how large the Commodore 64 is, the Commodore 64 C had a much lower prophile, quite a sleek design for that time.

[UncleFeedle]

SpecDrum samples are easily found online. It sounds pretty close to a Linndrum and has a great retro quality. Goes well with a SID emulator!

[CoolDudeClem]

I didn't know midi was so old, or could be connected to keyboards. I just thought it was a music system for PC's.

[toamaori]

m.i.d.i. musical instrument digital interface :)

[g3f0rc3p0w3r]

lol, midi, it just seems so ancient today

[DannyDiplo]

Erm, MIDI is still, today, the main way keyboards and other instruments are connected together.

[freakybuzz]

MIDI is sure showing it's age, and there are faster and higher-resolution protocols, but for universality, interconnectivity and general convenience, it is still the gold standard.

[dmspar]

I want one, here I come Ebay!

[redfan45x]

he seems like he is having fun

[groovycake]

needs more cowbell

[Essence4Music]

LOLZ....

[h792]

Is that a Roland "Super JX" at 9m?

[buggzo]

Are you talking about the sound?

[toamaori]

yeah i saw that too :)

[amigaknight]

where can i get a copy for the bbc b 32k?

[jaredismelol]

Wow, he makes that look so fun lol..

[archerrobinhood]

haha, i love the pun at 00:44, robots can be an uphill strugle whilst it is going up stairs

..