Story of one mod episode 1
Virgill - Vite and Plack (Interference)

"Interference" is obviously a stunning demo, but many, including myself, kept firing it up repeatedly just for the music. An instant jaw- and pants-dropper! Virgill crammed into 4 channels as much as it was possible without using loops. But you are able to truly appreciate it only when you take a look into the patterns and discover an immense amount of meticulous work. When you solo a single track it sounds chaotic and even a little out of control at times, but it doesn't matter as all 4 tracks played together sound like a symphony. I really like the fact that the melodies are catchy, to the point and so tight that they literally sit in the groove and thanks to that the demo never loses momentum. And the solo at the end?... Wow, just wow! Listening to such modules one felt a mixture of admiration and jealousy and wondered if it wasn't better to raise silkworms instead of making music...

This soundtrack made Virgill a star. He began to receive invitations to appear on breakfast tv, female (but not only) fans started sending him used underwear and fruity messages, and every kindergartener in Ibbenbueren, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would say: "Virgill".

Btw - there is a small audiovisual reference to "Interference" demo and to the module in our "Smoke & Mirrors" demo from 2013.

I've reached a couple of famous doctors and professors of demoscene music, paid them (in garlic cookies) and here's what they have to say about the module!

SERPENT: Well, for the starters, saw the demo and heard the tune back then in 1993, great demo, great music. Perhaps later that year got the mod also. Another experience back then (had those with Jogeir for example) of "how is this kind of tracking possible, what's with all these commands and everything put together that it sounds like 8 channels arrrrggh" nowadays i understand and can see how it's made. But that doesn't mean i could do it :D Extra plus for the crazy soloing at the end. Only minuses are that i remember the samples are not original (i don't really care about that so much though) and it does sound a bit Jester'ish (dunno if that's a minus).

ASLE: Vite and Plack was one of the musics that made me want to code a converter to protracker. As Virgill says himself in a 1997 interview, this music put him on the VIS map. This is your typical demoscene music. Very energetic and nicely compliant to the visuals being displayed. This combination of Virgill's great composing skills and the outstanding demo made it an unforgettable experience. This music is certainly a fantastic example of what is demoscene's creativity.

DASCON: To me the Interference soundtrack is one of the most "demoish" soundtracks of the early 90s. I always loved Virgills skills in creating killer "improvisation style" melodies - and in here he pushed it to the max - especially in the last 3-4 patterns. Btw, I can just recommend everyone to check out some of his early chiptunes under his old nickname Dr. Headcrash, as "doodling" awesome melodies together with lots of echoes and basically zero unused pattern rows was very much his style in the glory days of the demoscene. But "Vite and plack" offers much more - there´s great variation in speed, just as the demo demands it. Thumb up, this one made heritage.

I was wondering what Virgill thinks about this tune after almost 30 years...

"Vite and Plack" is probably your most famous module. What do you think of it today?

First, thank you that you put this mod to the list. I feel very honoured. I think that one aged quite well, but nowadays i would do some melodies a little different. They´re very hectic at times. Or maybe I got calmer over the years ;)

I was always impressed by the very clever arrangement. For example, thanks to the fact that the bass sample has a clicky attack and is played in a percussive manner, the lack of hi-hats isn't even noticeable! And you've used the saved space for adding a bit of extra depth to the pads. One can definitely hear more than 4 channels here.

Having the bass and the drums in only one chanel is a technique many chiptunes in ahx format use. And yes, it leaves space for other things. Seems that I worked a lot on the channel mixing here. Putting a lot of echoes and other stuff in the spaces. If you solo one channel, It sounds like madness.. But there are way cleverer mods with crazier channel mixing out there. Listen to Banana Split. Brain -> Exploded.

What is the back story of how it was conceived and written? And how long did it take you to make it?

Well, short story: My friends Microforce and Cosmos needed music for their interference demo. And I really don´t remember how much time i needed to finish the mods. But what I do still know is, that we all met at least two times in the flat of Boones/TRSI to discuss the demo and party hard. It´s a 450km ride from here to Neunkirchen, their home city.

A lot of samples come from "3d demo" soundtrack by Julius and the overall structure is also fairly similar. Was it just a random inspiration or a request from the designers?

I stole most samples from a mod from WOTW. And he had stolen them from 3d demo... Maybe I should find that mod again. But WOTW made a lot of tunes to listen through.

Did you have any input in creating "Interference" or did you just send them over the module?

IIRC the coders wanted a typical demo track for their prod. Microforce gave me some timings where the effects start and I had to alter the track here and there to make it fit.

Did you feel you had something special after you had written it?

No.

My favourite part is probably this awesome solo at the end and I have always regretted that it hasn't been highlighted by the visuals. Was it by any chance inspired by "My Glamorous Life" from Jester?

That solo the part I dislike most.. Tastes are different ;) Dunno if it´s inspired by Jester. Can´t recall that mod atm. But Jester was omnipresent in that period so maybe, likely.

It was the first and sadly last huge Sanity production with your music. In the end part we can read that you've left the group because of "internal problems". Can you elaborate on that?

I really can´t remember why exactly. I left for Masque. Had many friends there living around the corner.

Was there any kind of rivalry or competition between you and Jester? And what did Jester mean when he wrote somewhere (in Chit Chat?) that he wanted to drop something heavy on Virgil's head? :)

Did he wrote that ? Hehe.. Two teenage sceners fighting lol. That´s 30 years ago. And I still remember his phone number (no joke). We were friends !

Is there any "Vite and Plack" remix that you particularly like?

I´ve only encountererd only one remix so far. From Szudi. Which is nice!. The end theme of Interference "Rigid obstacles.mod" was remixed far more often.

What does the title mean?

Hehe. It is just a silly title from a teenage brain. Seems i had fun with substituting letters.

Thank you, Jochen for the music and awesome piece of scene history!

And a few last words. I thought it would be nice to do a remaster of "Vite and Plack", trying to preserve the vibe and character of
the original. Here's how it turned out: