Survey submitted: Tue 01 Dec 2009

Handle, ex-handle(s):
Big Alec

Name, birthday, origin:
Gunnar Gaubatz, 29 Nov 1973, Germany

Group, ex-group(s):
Delta Force (The Union), Offbeat

What was your first group, your role in that group and what did that group produce?:
My first group was Offbeat, consisting of Flix, Ray, "i" and myself. My role was coder, musician and part time pixel pusher. After "Musical Wonder 1991" was released, Flix, Ray and myself joined New Mode, Slime, Chaos Inc and Questlord of Delta Force who were going through a refresh cycle themselves, shedding some inactive members. Later on Sammy Joe, Oxygene, Wizzcat and Lord Hackbear joined our ranks as well.

What motivates you to spend time on the scene?:
Hmm - I don't really spend time on it anymore, other than being nostalgic about it

What is your favorite color?:
navy blue

On what platform(s) did you begin your computing journey, and when was this?:
Atari ST

What platform(s) do you use now?:
Mac

What is/are your favorite piece(s) of music(s) - from a demo production or a scener (released outside of a demo)?:
I have Yolk / Crankshaft's "Ocean Machine" as my phone's ringtone. I also like the ambient tunes of Mosaik / Radix. But there are so many cool tunes from all kind of platforms. I like Reyn's "Dignified" a lot, too.

What is/are your favorite picture(s) - from a demo production or a scener(released outside of a demo)?:
too many to choose from.

What music program are you using the most to express yourself? Why?:
Logic Express 8

Which composer, artist or group of the real life did inspire you most?:
Jean-Michel Jarre was an early influence. Mike Oldfield. Genesis. A lot of Prog and Neoprog. Marillion and Yes. Lots more.

Do you play any instrument? Which?:
Guitar and Keyboard.

Which project that you worked on was the most exciting and interesting for you? And why?:
Our biggest demo production was Punish Your Machine. But I guess most exciting was my own YM2149 tracker "Triplex", since I did everything myself and it allowed me to be more efficient and creative. I created my best tune "Prophecy" with it, which I like to this day. I made a remake of it recently.

What is your favorite demo, intro, megademo, retrogame, slideshow, musicdisk, diskmag, wilddemo?:
At the moment it's Orb/Andromeda's Stargazer. Oh, and 2nd place is Frameskool. 4mat's music is awesome. And Keops - you rock.

Discuss: minimalistic demos, cracktros, fucktros, joke demos, lamers, compo winners at big parties, demotools, diskmags, chiptunes, glenz vectors, programming languages, photoshop, textmode:
JEeez, no way dude, I'm oldskool. I'll let the young guns debate this.

What percentage of modern demos are 3d flybys?:
I don't know!? Why don't you count them? It's only 53,210,983 of them.

What percentage of older demos are the same effects recycled?:
Oh ok, now I get it. It's a rhetorical question. The right answer is: "Too many"

What platform(s) needs more demos?:
Altair 8800. But don't ask me why.

Which parties do you intend to go to, and which parties would you like to go to? Please describe your personal experiences with your most favourite or impressive party you have ever been at:
Intend to go (maybe): STNICCC 2015 (yeah!)
Favourite: our very own ICC#2 (1992) in Leutenbach, Germany. Most impressive: "TCC 93" in Gothenburg. I haven't really been to many parties.

How did the scene alter since you are taking an active part in it? Can you explain why?:
Haha, no I don't think I had THAT much influence If at all, I hope the Atari ST musicians get a little more respect for trying to make that soundchip sound a bit nicer. It's all we had - and we tried to make the most of it. I doubt the designers of that chip expected that much from it.

What are your dreams/goals in life, did scene help you and have you achieved them yet?:
Let's see: I got married. Check. I finished grad-school. Check. I got a good job. Check. Next I want to start a family. I'm working on it
Alas, the scene had nothing to do with it.

Finally, do you have some special greetings? Feel free to add links to your graphics, screenshots of effects, modules or other pieces of your work:
Hi to all my friends in the Atari ST Demoscene - you know who you are

http://www.gaubatz.net

b.a./DF