Interview with Purple Motion of Future Crew

Written by flux

"Daddy, daaaaady, does Purple Motion really exist?"
Starring Jonne Valtonen as Purple Motion.

Flux: How did you come up with your nick? Does it have any special meaning?

Purple Motion: I loved Deep Purple when I was 14-15, so I took that Purple thing directly from there. And since two-word handles were pretty pop then, I just added "Motion" to describe my music.

Flux: When did you start writing music?

Purple Motion: Somewhere around 1990 or 1991, I think. I was 14-15 years old. My computer then had a faulty harddisk, which trashed loads of my mods. But I guess my 5th or 6th song, "Fracture in space", is still available somewhere.

Flux: Your first group was the legendary Future Crew. How did you enter it?

Purple Motion: Well, I knew PSI's little brother. With twists and other weirdnesses I ended up betatesting Scream Tracker 2. They (well, PSI) asked me for music for their upcoming intro "mental surgery", and I made one tune for that, a BIT ripped off from uncle tom (grin). When I got the intro, I noticed that I was listed as a member of their group, so no fanfares there (grin). I haven't had any regrets though (smile).

Flux: What surprised you most when you got to scene?

Purple Motion: That most of the cool stuff came from Finland or Sweden. I had thought that the USA would have a big piece of the pie, but nothing came from there then.

Flux: Do you use tracking programs now?

Purple Motion: Yes, sometimes I do. I'm currently trying to prepare something for Assembly '99 (grin). Skaven has just given me some tips how to use IT!!

Flux: What gear do you own now?

Purple Motion: Umm... I have a Yamaha 01V mixer, Lexicon MPX1 effects, Roland JV1080 (with some expansion cards), Novatation BassStation, Korg Prophecy, Nordlead Classic, Quadrasynth Plus, Akai S2000 sampler, Tascam DA-P1 Dat, DR Rhythm 660 drum machine, Focusrite Voicebox, Neumann TLM103 mic and Sonorus (16-channel) recording card... And a 400mhz computer.

Flux: Do you use MIDI? (I guess I already know the answer, grin...)

Purple Motion: YEAH! And I love it. It takes a bit more time to work on a MIDI tune than with trackers, but the quality is much better.

Flux: Do you think you can ever reach MIDI quality in a tracker? By working with samples first, then applying reverb and things on separate WAVs and finally mixing them altogether?

Purple Motion: I think that's a pretty big longshot, since mixing is also a creative process, and if you mix the effects, etc. separately, you never have the whole picture in your hands.

Flux: You are working on commercial projects nowdays, right? So where can one get your music? What's it like? Is it like the "old" Purple Motion? Will it be possible to get it in my home country, Russia? Or order it online?

Purple Motion: Nope, the CD isn't available yet, but I'm working on it. I think I've done at least 20-30 songs for it already, but only one or two songs are good enough to get onto the CD. That CD-thing is really driving me nuts (smile). But I will finish it someday! I guess you will be able to order it online. My whole time goes to composing for a play at our local theatre ("Dracula") for a couple more weeks, but after that I'm seriously going to work on that scene CD.

Flux: As far as I know you've done some parts in the Final Reality track. Are you going to make something like that again?

Purple Motion: If I'm paid for it (smile).

Flux: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Purple Motion: From silence. Absolute silence is a pretty impressive thing! I like walking on ice, because when you get far enough, you can't hear ANYTHING. Sometimes it just hits me and I just have to get it on paper. Usually I don't get 'em up fast enough though.

Flux: Are you still interested in what happens on the scene?

Purple Motion: Yep! I try to get the recent mods whenever I can.

Flux: Do you like any tracker musicians? If yes, who are your idols?

Purple Motion: Yep! Skaven, Necros, etc...

Flux: What do you think about the scene's future?

Purple Motion: Well.. Are people still doing demos, haven't seen any big ones around lately?? In my opinion, demos are the best way to get musicians, graphic artists, coders, etc. known. Usually synchronized music sounds a LOT better than without the picture, i.e. demo (grin).

Flux: What do you think about the compos that are held now? Are they judged as they should be?

Purple Motion: I think that the songs that get to the final hearing (like the ones at Assembly) are usually judged quite nicely. But then again when the people who have paid to get to the party place want to say their opinion, then it gets bad pretty quickly (smile). Not that the people wouldn't know better, but since they're often tired, drunk, pissed, hungry, or whatever, the quality of their opinions seriously decreases - me included. I can't have a good opinion of a compo tune at a party place (grin).

Flux: What should the 'Tracker of the Future' look like? Do tracking programs have any future at all? Or are they just 'toys'?

Purple Motion: Well, it would be great if trackers supported sound cards that are 24 bit, like Sonorus Studi/o, and give loads of outputs. I think then you could do as good music as anyone.

Flux: Where can one get all your modules? Is there such a place?

Purple Motion: Not yet. Abyss is working on it though, with Marvel. I think it will be ready pretty soon.

Flux: By the way, do you have some sort of discography?

Purple Motion: No. I don't know how much I've done and where. It was pretty hectic back then (grin).

Flux: Now several personal questions. First of all, how old are you?

Purple Motion: 22 at the moment.

Flux: What are your hobbies?

Purple Motion: I like going to gym and playing some Squash from time to time.

Flux: Where do you work/study now?

Purple Motion: I have my own studio and company, which takes pretty much of my time.

Flux: Do you have a musical education?

Purple Motion: I've played classical piano for 12-13 years and I've studied musical theory quite a bit.

Flux: What instruments do you play besides synths?

Purple Motion: None (grin).

Flux: Have you ever been to Russia?

Purple Motion: Nope... Been planning though.

Flux: Do you have any bad habits?

Purple Motion: I don't sleep much. Like now it's 4.20am... (smile)

Flux: Are there any habits you'd like to have?

Purple Motion: Nope.

Flux: Do you eat animals? (smile)

Purple Motion: Only if they're served right (smile), like cooked or something.

Flux: Do you have a pet?

Purple Motion: Two gerbiles. They're pretty nice and have quite a strong character. Their names are "big" and "little" (smile).

Flux: What music do you like (styles, names)?

Purple Motion: At the moment I'm totally into Trip Hop!! Actually I'm working on a project already called Lacuna, which is going to be quite trip-hopish.

Flux: Do you know or have you heard any Russian tracker musicians?

Purple Motion: Uhh... Nope...

Flux: Could you share a couple of tracking tips?

Purple Motion: First and most importantly, always concentrate on the melody. That's how people recognize songs. I don't think that a whole lot of great and weird sounds make a great tune. Second, compress sounds so you can bring them up better in the mix. Third and last, if it's possible play around (with keyboards, guitars, etc.) with the themes - they tend to get better with time!

Flux: Whew... That's all, I guess. Thanx for answering!

Purple Motion: No problem.

- Flux/T-Rex