goto80.com — defMON posts and the Improv page

Three short blog posts (2009–2020) and the undated Improv page from goto80's own site — first-hand statements on defmon's authorship, its evolution as a live instrument, and his from-scratch improvisation practice on the commodore-64.

Key claims#

• "New defMON-version" (2020-10-14): "defMON is the C64-software that I've been using for the last 15 years or so. My computer compadre Mad Frantic made it, and I've helped him out with a few suggestions and ideas over the years." The new version adds sync-related features: "synchronizing two defMONs by connecting two C64s to the same disk drive (or just straight into the other)", plus tempo nudge back or forth "to stay in sync with your local brass band" (i.e. with musicians outside the machine). Video tutorials were "closer than ever"; he jokes the user base might reach "a two digit number". Note: "the last 15 years or so" counted from 2020 reads as ~2005, looser than the 2008 start the Improv page (and the SIDId notes on frantic's page) give — treat it as a round number.
• "Defmon & Bits of Freedom" (2010-06-21): a "re-destruction of the Dutch national anthem" prepared for Hacking At Random 2009 for Bits of Freedom (the Dutch digital-rights organization); he fell ill, so the post is the rehearsal video. "The software is Defmon, and you can't copy it" — first-hand confirmation that in 2010 defMON was still private. "Not so much improvisation in this one, except for the trashy solo at the end."
• "Defmon Impromosh Boink" (2009-04-14): a datamoshed video of "my dear Defmon C64-tracker" — evidence defMON was in goto80's daily use by April 2009; filed under glitch.
• Improv page (undated): "I mostly improvise by typing on a keyboard. It's similar to live coding but where they use programming languages, I use a dedicated music software on Commodore 64 called defMON." Some improvs involve "as little as 0 preparations": "I can start a show with nothing and build every sound and harmony with the audience watching." Chronology he gives:
  • 2007: first improvised shows — an August illegal open-air party in Gothenburg where his laptop broke and he played a full set on a Game Boy alone (police raided mid-set), and a September museum show in the Netherlands sequencing a prepared song live in his JCH software (jch-editor) in sync with Raquel Meyers' visuals (song released on Bortabra).
  • 2008: layered JCH Editor jams became the song Postiljon. "After that I was introduced to the first version of the defMON music program. Every week I met with the author, and we jammed with two C64:s running defMON. These jam sessions fed back into the development of the program, which become a very powerful live instrument." Some of these two-C64 jams were later edited and released as Kommando Knorr — i.e. Kommando Knorr is the goto80 + defMON-author duo.
  • Later: a screen-recorded defMON jam (Sjöman) plus Raquel Meyers' text graphics led to 2SLEEP1; eventually full from-scratch live improvisations ("No instruments prepared, no sequences, no concepts. I booted defMON and started to type"), sometimes combined with the Dataslav project where the audience hands in requests he must execute promptly during the improv.

Practical takeaways#

• defMON was designed into live playability: weekly two-C64 jam sessions between the author and goto80 fed directly back into development — a concrete case of live-tracking practice shaping a tracker.
• The 2020 sync features (two defMONs over a shared drive or a direct cable, plus tempo nudge) make multi-machine and with-humans performance a first-class workflow — compare sync and multispeed timing concerns.
• Zero-preparation improv in a tracker is feasible when one editor screen holds everything: boot, type, build sounds and harmony live.

Notable quotes#

• "My computer compadre Mad Frantic made it, and I've helped him out with a few suggestions and ideas over the years." (2020-10-14)
• "It's similar to live coding but where they use programming languages, I use a dedicated music software on Commodore 64 called defMON." (Improv)
• "The software is Defmon, and you can't copy it." (2010-06-21)

Relevance to the wiki#

First-hand anchor for the defmon page (authorship by frantic "Mad Frantic", private until after 2010, 2020 sync/tempo-nudge features, jam-driven development) and for goto80's live-improvisation practice; it also clarifies Kommando Knorr as a duo of the two, where the frantic page currently lists it as one of Frantic's aliases.

Pages touched#

defmon · goto80 · frantic · live-tracking · sync · commodore-64 · jch-editor · lsdj (the 2007 Game Boy-only set)