64'er (magazine)

The German C64 magazine (Markt & Technik) that ran the 1986 music competition chris-huelsbeck won with shades and then published his soundmonitor as "Listing des Monats" in issue 10/1986, pp. 53–64 — "the biggest selling C64 magazine at the time" in Hülsbeck's words (sources: s-64er-soundmonitor-article, s-remix64-huelsbeck-interview).

Facts#

• The Soundmonitor article, "Musik wie noch nie", is a complete manual plus an 11 KB hex listing to type in; its text survives as an iDOC= etext and the issue is scanned on archive.org (source: s-64er-soundmonitor-article).
• Hülsbeck sold Soundmonitor to the magazine after winning the contest (1500 DM); VGMPF also lists a 64'er 2/88 interview with him (source: s-vgmpf-chris-huelsbeck).
• Issue 3/91 carried the jeroen-tel interview already in the wiki (source: s-sidmusic-jeroen-tel-interviews).

• Issue 2/88 carries the rainbow-arts feature "Von der Spielidee ins Regal" with a four-question Hülsbeck interview — bass line first, "keine Noten lesen", sampling explained for readers, and the Sound-Monitor as the way from synthesizer to computer (source: s-64er-rainbow-arts-feature).

The 1986 music competition#

• Hülsbeck's own account, given in March 1987 to Happy Computer, which glosses 64'er as "eine Schwesterzeitschrift der Happy-Computer" (both Markt & Technik): "Das war im Februar 1986. Ich habe von dem Wettbewerb gelesen und dachte mir, ich mache da mal mit." He wrote shades, sent it in — "Ich rechnete gar nicht damit, daß ich solch einen Erfolg haben würde" — and placed first (source: s-happy-computer-soundprofessor). Wikipedia instead cites the contest announcement to issue 6/1986, p. 173; neither source accounts for the other, so both datings stand here (source: s-wikipedia-chris-huelsbeck).
• He was 16 and aiming low: "After Planet of War I was already improving my machine language music player and when I read about the contest, I was determined to get at least noticed by sending in a cool music piece. I never expected to win, but of course I was very happy about my prize and it helped to start my career" (source: s-emuwiki-huelsbeck-interview).
• What the magazine reached that the scene did not. Asked in 1996 how he got into the scene and which groups he had belonged to, Hülsbeck answered "I had no contact with the 'scene'..." — and named the win as the proudest moment of his career: "Winning the first music competition in a german computer mag called '64er Magazin'" (source: s-imr-huelsbeck-interview). The competition, the 1500 DM and the type-in listing that followed took an unconnected schoolboy into professional game music without a group, a demo or a swap contact.
• The listing was a consequence of the prize, not a separate commission: "Danach habe ich mit der Redaktion vereinbart, daß ich noch ein Programm schreibe, den »Soundmonitor«. Der war im Oktober 1986 das »Listing des Monats«" (source: s-happy-computer-soundprofessor). It was reprinted in "64'er Extra Nr. 13" (source: s-soundmonitor-lineage-wikis).

Related#

soundmonitor · chris-huelsbeck · shades · jeroen-tel · commodore-64

Sources#

s-64er-soundmonitor-article · s-vgmpf-chris-huelsbeck · s-remix64-huelsbeck-interview · s-sidmusic-jeroen-tel-interviews · s-64er-rainbow-arts-feature · s-happy-computer-soundprofessor · s-emuwiki-huelsbeck-interview · s-imr-huelsbeck-interview · s-wikipedia-chris-huelsbeck · s-soundmonitor-lineage-wikis