What chip revision did you record with?

The chip used for recording is: "CSG 391077-01 - 8364R7PL - 5392 27" Unlike the Commodore 64, I would say the Amiga audio chip does not have any known reputation of producing different waveforms if the music was played on A500, A600, A4000 or A1200 (A1200 was used for the entire recordings) except for a variation in the low-pass filter (wikipedia) which you can hear/see an example of below.

But hopefully, you can get the real authentic sound from the SOAMC= project just as you remembered from your Amiga xxxx machine :)

Tune sounds strange or wrong playtime!

The tune lengths were extracted from DeliPlayer's (PC Version) (somewhat buggy) playlists. It was not the easiest job, but I managed to write some own tools for that. DeliPlayer's most excellent song length detection engine cannot fully support all files and therefore the time was left as 00:00 in the playlists.

It might even detect the length wrong too, so to compensate for this, DeliPlayer on PC has its own playtime override which is by default set at 04:00. So, I did the same in my project. That could mean if the song contained some looping tricks or ended after 01:30, the rest of the MP3 file would either be silent or suddenly repeat itself and may then on the second or third loop just be cut off completely!

Remember: The recording process and a lot of other things are automated, so I did not check each song for the correct length etc. For 100000+ files that would be a painless and quite possible an impossible job! So, enjoy what you got and may request a re-recording in our FORUMS!

Amiga stereo separation is bad for my ears!

Yeah, I know. Listening to Amiga sound with drums in one left channel, strings in right channel etc is really no fun when listening in headphones. So, I did the incredible task of producing a second blend-mixed stereo version where each channel is mixed with the other at a 65% factor. That doubled the collection as easy math would indicate. It will give a more narrow stereo feel, but it would not freak out your ears so much as the original recording.

Please note that we provide BOTH recordings in our collection. Recorded as-is from Amiga and one blended stereo-mix version as explained here. The results you can hear from these first recordings done for the project.

This is the quality you can expect. Note that there is a couple of seconds of silence in the beginning, this will let you hear the actual noise from a real A1200 when the audio material was normalized to 100% volume. If you can't hear it, good for you!

DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A1200 w/Filter OFF - Imploder 4 - Original Stereo
DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A1200 w/Filter OFF - Imploder 4 - Blended Stereo

Why 224Kbps, mono and CBR MP3 encoding?

(I used LAME 3.97 Command line version to convert the recorded wav to MP3)
The magic line was: "lame.exe *.wav -c -h -m s -b 224 -q 2"

CBR is constant bit ratio which means that a silent period in the MP3 have the same compression factor as a period with sound in it has. This results in larger size MP3, but size is NOT an issue here, and also it's supported by older equipment (which also represents the 224Kbps ratio) such as DVD players, Car Stereo MP3 players, MP3 players both software and hardware.

It IS yesterday's compression scheme for sure, but not everybody are hip enough to follow the bandwagon and be cool and buy all the latest ipod MP3 players and do not care about dowloading the latest MP3 player software. SOAMC= is about compability in probably all environments and situations.

If you are not still convinced why I took this decision, please read the interview with me in the September Issue of CommodoreFree -> www.commodorefree.com (This was for the SOASC= Commodore 64 SID recording project).

That should get you head straight and make you stop and think and stop being so ignorant towards the choice of MP3 instead of OGG or any other format!

Why MP3 and not OGG, FLAC or Plain WAV?

It was a totally egoistic and personal choice. This is afterall a PRIVATE project intented for my own amusement.

MP3: It's the most common format for all kinds of people and hardware. End of story.

OGG: Might be better with those "unhearable high frequencies that you would NEVER miss if you had nothing to compare too anyway!" End Of Story.

FLAC: Why should I? Better go real WAV instead, and also FLAC is a non-typical format that are not "all over" compatible "all over" everywhere. End Of Story.

WAV: That would be dream, yes. But it would take 10 times as much space and would be a ridiculous waste!

I really can't believe if anybody would be unsatisfied with the SOAMC= audio quality of the MP3's. Those higher frequencies you claim to be issue with the MP3 are frequencies in the approx 18000Hz-20000Hz range. Do you know what KIND of sound that is?

PS: Your dog will, but not you my friend!

If you are not still convinced why I took this decision, please read the interview with me in the September Issue of CommodoreFree -> www.commodorefree.com (This was for the SOASC= Commodore 64 SID recording project).

That should get you head straight and make you stop and think and stop being so ignorant towards the choice of MP3 instead of OGG or any other format!

I have no further comments.

Is the downloaded MP3 file 100% complete?

Either check the MP3 songlength you have in your local file vs the length on our database/web. Or, see if the MP3 filesize matches that of our database/web. If you have tags in the MP3, its probably 100% ok. If not, you have a broken file. To verify such broken files we have provided MD5 checksums for all MP3 files. Use your favourite local tool to verify that against our sum available for each song entry on the database/web.

We even provided a MD5 text file for all recordings for you to download.

Download the entire set here: soamc_md5_sums.zip

Finding music is so hard, help?

The best help in finding your favourite track from a game or demo is by using the already good databases available on the net, such as Exotica, Modland, AMP, HOL.ABIME, and Bitworld!

Those search engines have done proper jobs in storing everything else about the production or game. In this example I'll show you how to find D-MOB modules from Musicdisk 2.

D-MOB Musicdisk 2 at Bitworld

Scroll down to module names, you find "orpheus2.mod" etc. Copy that name into our "Path/Filename" field of SOAMC= and voila you get the MP3 version you want!

Or, by going to HOL.ABIME.NET, look for your game, write down or copy the Musician's Composer name, copy that into our Composer field of SOAMC= and you'll probably get direct hits for all the music that guy made. Also, if in desparate need paste the name of composer into the "FULL SEARCH" box and hit Search. You might get lucky!

Amiga 500 vs A1200 audio?

Nothing to be concerned about I would say. I did some tests, shown here are the difference in spectral views (Adobe Audition 1.5) of A500 vs A1200 (with and without filter) recording along with the actual MP3 files. The tune used was Imploder4 by Paul van der Valk.

There is some noise in these recordings as a nearby small CRT was creating the noise (the line across). This CRT will be off during recording, the main focus here now is the crispness of the audio and comparsion of volume/crispness for A500/A1200 with and without filter.


DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A500 w/Filter ON - Imploder 4 - Stereo

The A500 have a little lower output volume than A1200 and the spectral view shows less crisp audio than A1200.


DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A1200 w/Filter ON - Imploder 4 - Stereo

The A1200 have higher volume than A500 and you can see some less filtering going on in in the spectral view, meaning the sound should be a more crispy than A500.


DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A500 w/Filter OFF - Imploder 4 - Stereo

The A500 a little lower output volume than A1200 and the spectral view shows less crisp audio than A1200.


DOWNLOAD MP3 -> A1200 w/Filter OFF - Imploder 4 - Stereo

The A1200 shows a significant increase in the crispness of the audio as the spectral view shows and also of course higher output volume than A500.


END CONCLUSION: The A1200 w/Filter OFF are the most crispest of all audio examples. This is the format that are going to be used for the entire project.

Where did all the original music files from?

The files were downloaded from the Exotica and Modland websites, along with the entire Mods Anthology #1 cd's.

I have electronically written permissions from both Exotica and MODLAND to present their collected and organized work as MP3 files on our website.

Please note that whatever changes they do in their database will not be reflected in the SOAMC= database. SOAMC= is considered to be a snapshot collection, where stuff in time was recorded as found and left as-is in the aftermath.

Did you record modules from AMP.DASCENE.NET?

Actually I did plan and mention it during the introduction of the project in Dec 2007 - Feb 2008 on YouTube and other channels.

But after Crown/AMP read my e-mail (which took 3 months to find), he literally told me the following sentences why I could not proceed with the recording of already material in Public Domain. I asked Crown for an official statement and to stand for his comments, they never appeared so I created the statements based on the reply.

"He wishes that people listen to real modules instead of MP3 recordings."
"He wants me to remove ALL the MP3 that was downloaded from AMP."
"I'm allowed to use them for private use only."

It surprises me that Crown actually manage to instruct me to NOT download my own modules from their site (composer:demonoid), record them as MP3, post them on my site and show a reference to AMP where they come from all in the spirit of Public Domain.

Crown have most likely taken over ALL distribution rights on behalf on all the composers. I do not need to say more. These are all idi*tic statements which has the following consequence:

I made it my TOP PRIORITY to gather a alternative huuuuuge load of modules from other sources and record them to MP3 to try and "heal" the loss of AMP. And it did indeed result in even more modules to be recorded, so.....

The choice of listening to modules or MP3's is the USERS choice and nobody else, we just give them an alternative source to be able to listen to the musical pieces. The amount of music that I will dig up will be greater in amount of modules than the actual loss of the modules downloaded originally from AMP. So, thanks to the lack of co-operation from Crown/AMP, I was forced to expand the project even more... well nuff said so... Enjoy the SOAMC= project, Amiga music fans!

For reference, here is their FAQ: http://amp.dascene.net/faq.php

This one amuses me the most:
"Can I export part or all of AMP's music database and use it in my website?"

Definitely NOT! It's our work and it is not meant to be use by any other website or person. Shall I remind you that it's copyrighted material?! We appreciate that you like our website a lot but tell your friends about AMP rather than try to steal our work.

You own the DATABASE, its structure and text written in it, but you do not own the files (which are part of the AMP music database). And thus, looking back I should have ignored Crown's statement and record it regardless as AMP do not own the music material and its freely distributable in respect of the Public Domain logic...except for those who gave AMP explicit permission to distribute their mods JUST on their site.

Do you own the music files?

No, we do not own the original music files or the distribution rights to them either. We have posted a CLEAR statement of copyright on our site. The MOD/music files were downloaded/copied off other archival sites out there. If they provide the music as is, so can we. They provide it to be a preservation and/or archiveal project, as so do we.

Do we own _ANY_ distribution rights for any of the MODS/Music files or music material at all?.

Yes, but only music created by ourselves which is found under the composers names as "Demonoid" and "Sv". Everything else is copied from other sites or from music collections posted in the public domain.

Do we own the MP3 file?

Yes, in a way we actually do. This because it was recorded on my equipment, electronically and mechanically. I was the one who created the MP3 file using software and analog recording technique. If you strip away all the musical notes and composition you are left with basically a blank MP3 file named and tagged with certain MP3 tags. This file we own. Yeah, we own the wrapping, but not the contents if you understand what we mean!

You are therefore NOT allowed to download the file and claim you either recorded or processed it. Copying to your website without saying who did actually record and who own the original/revised musical/composer/author/releaser copyright is not a very kind procedure. Please have respect for the composer/releaser and all the massive 3+ years work for the SOAMC= team have put into this MP3 collection!

If your intention to modify the MP3 file by fixing a bad MP3 tag or that you want to improve the copyright information, then you are allowed to modify the file as-is.

But, remember, if you copy the MP3 file to your server and make it available online, you should as a act of respect specify that the MP3 files WAS recorded by the SOAMC= project (provide our link the the main site) and the copyright for the music material is the original composers property!. This information must be copied out of the MP3 tag and placed together with the MP3 file download link on your site for instance.

Note that all MP3 tags are based upon the directory structure as found on Modland, MA#1 including my own named directories. No tags were copied off Exotica or any other site, it was all created automatically. That is why Year, Releaser Company is not present in the MP3 tags.

If you get the idea to copy a certain amount of MP3 files and make a kind of "own project website" claiming you created these MP3 files or actually charges money for it (or indirectly by using banners) you are really on your own. We take no responsibility for whatever problems you'd get into from either the law and enforcement or the scene by using our MP3 files for something unlegal and unrespectful.

If you are cross-linking to the files to our server, please leave a message somewhere about SOAMC=.

I am composer xxx, I own the music!

Yes you do. If you composed a module that we recorded to MP3, it's basically flat out your work of course!

You can freely link or copy the music to your own site, we won't police any of that. We just hope you write a note somewhere near the music description that it was recorded by the SOAMC= project and possible a link back to the www.paula8364.com site.

You are also free to change the tags into what you desire, but it would be a nice gesture to respect the hard work behind the SOAMC= and leave some trace of where the MP3 recording actually originated from or hint to how it actually became an MP3 file instead of a orginal .MOD file for instance.

Can I exploit the MP3 files for anything?

Well, everybody would appriciate if you just listen to it and nothing more. To extract parts of it, useing the whole music material in full, use it in multimedia productions etc, you must either use common respect for the Public Domain copyright rules or contact the composers directly about your intentions for the music material.

Read the copyright statement we already have created.

Amiga music is old & outdated, so why bother?

For starters, you are missing one word in the end there. It should say; "old school". That is about the things that matter when you grew up, what made you what you are today, your memories and your experiences with the Amiga will be back again to say hello with the help of remembering the past and the old school days.

Remember, todays equipment will be old school in 20 years, so its all about remembrance and the joy of "what was". There is no gain, except the result of the real authentic Amiga sound:). This was an electronic and inventive challenge that I just HAD to do. Challenges make character, and it is incredible fun to be able to be creative and set no limits, what a boring life if not.

Therefore, I just HAD to do it, and also because I have so many good memories from the Amiga days that I would like to experience today in other situations and I still get a kick out of it. It's about human exploration and playing with your mind. If you don't understand, you're a zombie and have lost yourself...and that can't be repaired. Sorry.

And if you compare and think you just made the comment of the day like; "why have 750GB of Amiga music when I can have all the files in 2.2GB instead on my PC" (typical newbie statement), you are REALLY lost and have no idea or concept of the SOAMC= project is all about. You are probably one of those guys who start a lot of projects and never finished them....thats not me, so respect that and the AUTHENTIC sound of the SOAMC= project!

Anyway, apart from that I do not trust ANYTHING else than the real authentic Commodore Amiga playing the music. I do not want to listen to music not intended to be played on anyting else than the original Commodore Amiga's. A lot of people seem to forget this incredible important detail when discovering the SOAMC= project in general. It is just the hunt for the real authentic thing, and I stress that too much. AUTHENTIC SOUND IS ALL!

Can I send you my personal MOD files?

No, don't. We do not plan to update and produce a futuristic update of Amiga modules. Either use Modland.com or AMP.DASCENE.NET for that matter to let the world know your music. SOAMC= was officially closed on 12 Mar 2009.

The SOAMC= project was a snapshot recording archive only done once in a lifetime. The work involved exceeds far greater what one man single handely could normally do, but Stone Oakvalley pulled it off anyway during Q1 2007 and Q1-2-3 2008.

The credits is wrong for my module. We fix?

No, there will be no attempts to fix any tags like this. The project was a once-time project. After the SOAMC= recordings are done NOTHING will be updated. Please consider the fact that SOAMC= should only be considered as a snapshot recording archive done in a given point of time, meaning Q4 2007 to Q1 2008.

What was found and downloaded at that time is what is presented in the SOAMC= collection. This is it!

The incredible complex work done to generate this collection is far beyond the grasp of most people, everything is based around DeliPlayer playlists and how they were saved and constructed into directories, zip files, MP3 tags and a whole lot of more to reflect the initial offline preperation and recording database (not the same exact database that are used online).

The only help we can offer in such an event of the need to fix tags (and thus the entires in the database, directory structures for MP3, ZIP and Amiga files) is to delete the entire entry. Yes, you read it right. DELETE the entire entry, removing any traces of the files you want to be updated. Simple solution to what people might think is a simple operation (to just fix tags).

If you don't want us to delete the MP3 file but still wants the tags to be updated or changed, please download the file, copy it to your server or collection and fix it yourselves.

Also consider contacting Modland or Exotica, eventually AMP to correct whatever they have stored for the same module files (no, they dont have MP3). They have a different approach and view to a Amiga music database than we do. We consider all Amiga music created during the 80's and 90's for history and leave it just like that!

Remember we didn't place any music files where they belong today or created any credits. Everything was done automatically.

The future for the SOAMC= project?

There is no immidiate future updates going on for SOAMC=. The project was a once-time project. After the SOAMC= recordings are done NOTHING will be updated to reflect possible changes/bug fixes of Modland and Exotica in future. They do their job very well with the original Amiga files (as well as AMP do) and they must be allowed to continue their great work nevertheless for original music files.

SOAMC= should only be considered as a snapshot recording archive done in a given point of time, meaning Q4 2007 to Q1 2008. What was found and downloaded at that time is what is presented in the SOAMC= collection. This is it!

In March 2009 the project was finalized and I officially retired from the SOAMC= recording project FULLY, leaving the collection as-is without any attempts to update it further. A legend must rest as a legend should rest, otherwise it's not a legend!

The files will be made available as long as it is possible until the end of the world.

Do you earn money on SOAMC=?

Earn money on this project? Are you out of your mind?

Hosting this kind of massive collection online is really easy...if one cared to do it the right way! And so we did, no CRAP - just pure, clean, serious and the tunes ready for download. No strings attached, no nags, no ads, no shit.

This is a respectful archival project for the Amiga fans which includes myself and the website should reflect that.

So by bringing in a bunch of Google crap ads, stupid search engines plugins or ANY other kind of third-party webcode/functionalites beyond what I MEAN in my greatest belief would bring my site on a level that would be similar to SO many other archive sites out there is REALLY important. This site should be clean and 100% our design/functionalites only!

If something would be added it should benefit the project....

Just a heads up, that I am VERY aware of what clean and serious concept/projects are all about!

Death to banners, commercial ads, google ad crap etc. that DOES NOT benefit the project in question!

Earning money on this project (in any way) would be subject to law as we do not own the tunes and are they are of course copyrighted to their respective composers/companies, so there will never be any banners or stuff making us rich on this. NEVER EVER, WE ARE SO CLEVER!

In very simple words:
WE ACCEPT *NO* DONATIONS : DONATE DIRECTLY TO YOUR FAVORITE COMPOSER INSTEAD!

We will never be like *any* other similar site out there, we set an example of what FREE means.

1: We accept *NO* donations for either hardware, bandwidth cost, the work involved, for the good will of the project etc. Be that the donation would be money or just other physical objects. NOTHING was EVER requested and NEVER will. Donate to the composers instead is our RULE!

2: We have NO ADS whatsoever, never had and never will. No Google ADS, no graphical banners, no commercial stuff that makes us earn a cent or penny or half a dollar or 0.00001 in any currency at ALL by using our site.

3: We generally just want to make the music material be presented as MP3, because that is today a very common format to present music in all genres. Using dedicated players can be ackward on todays modern operating systems, and even some will not play music correctly if not done on a real Amiga. This is now overcomed by presenting them as MP3 material instead.

4: We pay for the bandwidth to get access to internet. Since that is fairly cheap and provides a lot of IDLE up-bandwidth here in Norway, we host this collection from our homes just because we love the music and the people who have created the music. Call it addiction or just for pure nostalgic reasons. We have good jobs, earn good and have NO intentions of making money in ANY way on these projects. They are temporary hobby projects...and we do got other hobbies too so don't expect a lifetime of dedication here.

5: We will never compile parts or the entire MP3 collection onto DVD's, HD's with the intent of making money on it. Even if it "just" covers the work involved copying them and for the media material used. How the MODS ANATHLOGY #1 cd can be sold by ANYONE is beyond our understanding. There must have been some pennies earned here and there and that is not legal. So, again we will never do anything to earn a single value for hosting this collection and the MP3 files.

Any world records related to SOAMC=?

Hehe, well not officially recorded by Guiness Records but I guess my Commodore Amiga 1200 suffered the longest playback of music in the entire history, around 1 year 24/7!

Any online SOAMC= streams available?

Yes, our own Commoradio.net with the following blunt and direct statement:

Commoradio feature only 1 hourly random generated playlist, we do not offer a fancy interface, customizable playlists, comments, presenters, breaks, top 10, or top 40 for that matter, quantity and not necessarily quality - just pure & random authentic computer music for your ears!

It is basically an uproar against world wide radio stations of any kind or music video tv stations streaming anything else than what they should do. All lost focus. We don't. We are very precise in our statement to not follow any given standard rules but to do it our way without any hesitation.

Any torrents available?

Nope!

Nothing has EVER or EVER will be created/hosted or generated by us, our server or anybody we instructed to do so.

I am 100% against the Torrent technology and recent Pirate Bay focus has proven my disrespect for Torrents since its birth.

I ask myself: "How can people actually imagine that this kind of sharing (of illegal material) is allowed in any form or way?. Is people really that dumb?"

Yes, amazing to see how many fools there are in the world with no clue to what ownership and copyright consists of. Not to mention getting payed for something a talent created for you to enjoy. Where is the respect? The world has gotten obnoxious and Torrents is a beautifull way of showing how ignorant MOST people are. Braindead zombies with white-brains tripping with the bandwagon followers and with absolutely no mind and soul of their own. Reminds me of those Apple MAC-sheeps...No mind of their own, just follow whatever somebody tells you to do...reminds me of all religion to...fairytales from start to end. WAKE UP!

No, you should all become like me and the world would be a better place. No shit. Own mind. Own decisions. Just bliss.

During 2009 I laugh at all the problems and focus Torrent technology has gotten, and for those who lost their way of getting their files. It makes me just wanna say "I told you, HA-HA!"

Another thing that irritate and pleases me at the same it is all the feedback on more unpopular torrent with comments such as, "oh, im stuck at 99%, please seed" or "oh, im stuck at 75% I REALLY NEED THIS, PLEASE SEED". Geez. Broken untrustable technology that Torrent, I'll say. Another perfect reason why we DO NOT OFFER TORRENTS!

Why port 40000 for the search engine?

Sadly our Telenor Online ISP do not allow regular people to host their own stuff at home using port 80, 81, 8080, 8181, so we had to choose port 40000 just out of the blue. This port will interfere with certain company firewalls and such, and we are sorry for that.

We hope that in near future we can get port 80 support at home by another ISP which hopefully will give me a fiber connection too, allowing even more bandwidth for the masses in addition to todays www.df.lth.se fast mirror offers.

www.df.lth.se do not host the search engine as it requires quite some resources memory and cpu, so we aren't quite there yet. Bear with us, we are sort of aware of the growing problem with port 40000.