Jonathan Dunn

Ocean Software's C64 composer of the late 1980s — the Ocean Loader tunes and game scores such as Daley Thompson '88 — whose original 1988 sources survive in the realdmx collection: "Orchestration, blood, sweat & tears by Jonathan Dunn", in a driver credited to Paul Hughes (ocean-music-driver; source: s-realdmx-ocean-dunn-hughes-driver).

Facts#

• Before scoring games he composed in soundmonitor (source: s-vgmpf-soundmonitor-tfmx); SIDwave names Electrosound as "Jonathan Dunn's first tool" and says that because "Electrosound and Soundmonitor are both very heavy with raster usage, around 45-75% CPU … Dunn has to code his own player" (Platoon) (source: s-recollection-brief-history-of-sid). The 1988 sources credit the driver to Paul Hughes — the wiki keeps both statements: a player of Dunn's own for Platoon per SIDwave, and Hughes's driver for the 1988 scores per the source files (s-realdmx-ocean-dunn-hughes-driver).
• The two sources: the six-tune Daley Thompson '88 soundtrack (DISQUALIFIED, SUCCESS, FAIL, NEXT EVENT, TITLE MUSIC, QUALIFY) and "LOADING MUSIC IV, THE REMIX!" — HVSC's Ocean Loader 5 — written as note names, command names and note-value constants (CR2, QV2) in the assembler, with Dunn's arrangement notes in the comments: "PLAY VERSE+CHORUS TWICE", "MIDDLE 8", "LET BASS + BACK TAKE OVER", "REPEAT TO FADE"; the drums are "DunnyDrums (tm)" (source: s-realdmx-ocean-dunn-hughes-driver).
• His signature sound in the data: patches with two control bytes (one gated, one for the release), $55 = triangle + pulse + ring modulation on the title patches, three-frame noise transients, bends that land on the written note, the loader's bass with EFFECT,12 (each note attacks an octave up) (source: s-realdmx-ocean-dunn-hughes-driver).
• JCH lists him among the "overrated"; Jammer defends "Jonathan Dunn's sounds ('use of $55 for example')" (source: s-chordian-sid-musicians). SIDId files the Ocean driver as Paul_Hughes / MusDriver/Paul_Hughes and has no entry under his name (source: s-sidid-player-list).

• lasse-oorni (2002) names him with Hubbard, Galway, Gray and Ouwehand — "this guy composed the ultimate war-feeling/heroic SIDs" — and counts "the various Ocean Loaders" with the sanxion loader as the SIDs that "evoke the most feeling in me" (source: s-sidin02-cadaver-interview).

Related#

ocean-music-driver · martin-galway · soundmonitor · sid-player-routine · sidid

Sources#

s-realdmx-ocean-dunn-hughes-driver · s-recollection-brief-history-of-sid · s-vgmpf-soundmonitor-tfmx · s-chordian-sid-musicians · s-sidid-player-list · s-sidin02-cadaver-interview