TW #27 — Interview with Zapper (The Finn)
The Finn interviews the-zapper of Force Ten at 4:45 in the morning, Montreal time.
Key claims#
- Marc Girard, 22, computer technician, from the suburbs of Montreal (Quebec); Force Ten is a local group of friends (Zapper, Vizz, Duellist) named after a Rush song — and a real band (Zapper on bass and synths, Duellist on drums). He also writes music for the demo group The Apollo Project (TAP): the demo Night Life (coded by Kodiak) won Hasty's demo compo; an ASM'95 co-op tune was delivered by IOR.
- Started 6–7 years earlier on the Amiga with Sonix 2.0 ("not really a tracker"), first
.modon an Atari ST with NoiseTracker; began composing seriously when he bought a Gravis Ultrasound about 1992 and used "ProTracker 4 GUS, which is almost a 100% conversion". First release Distorted Music Disk (ftp.autoroute.net /pub/forceten); one of its songs won first place at Amiga Convention 94. Placed 23rd in Music Contest 3 (Vizz 16th). - Had school music, violin (hated), later guitar lessons; "I began tracking before playing any instruments".
- Samples: "99 % of the samples I use were sampled/edited/processed by me" and he supplies the other Force Ten members. Gear: Korg Poly-61, Roland JX-8P, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha FX-500 effects processor, Ampeg and Sunn amplification, a 1973 Rickenbacker, a small mixer, a Shure SM57.
- His Jarre Oxygène IV cover was quick to re-track because the patterns are repetitive; the hard part was matching the sounds.
- Playing an instrument teaches "the technique to apply to your tracker … how to make it feel" — slides and vibrato for bass; Necros complimented his bass lines for sounding real. Advice: learn an instrument if you have the patience.
- Jams over tracked arrangements for hours on bass, guitar or keys, then builds the song from the jam.
- Amiga-era trivia: the "Sonix Lead" sound is "still used by PM and Skaven — 2nd Reality is full of it"; he only recognised it later.
- Favourites: Genesis, Yes, Marillion, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Yanni, Jarre; among trackers Necros, Basehead, Sirrus, Jase, and "Purple Motion (like every other tracker)".
Practical takeaways#
- A synth-and-mixer sampling chain (three synths, an FX unit, an SM57) as the source of a group's whole sample library — the "make your own" side of the ripping debate.
- Play an instrument to learn how slides and vibrato feel, then write them with pitch-slide-and-portamento and vibrato commands.
Notable quotes#
- "When you play an instrument of some sort, you know the 'technique' to apply to yer tracker. You know how to make it 'feel'." — Zapper.
Relevance#
An own-samples workflow with a full gear list; the Amiga → Atari → GUS/ProTracker path; and the Second Reality / Sonix Lead anecdote for future-crew and purple-motion.
Pages touched#
the-zapper, purple-motion, skaven, future-crew, necros, protracker, pitch-slide-and-portamento, vibrato.