S02E06: Modding and 90s Game Tools

Hi, Super VGA.

My name's Wee Wee Kwan, and I'm writing from Taipei City, Taiwan.

I found your podcast a little while ago and I got so excited because Windows 3.1 era multimedia CD-ROMs are exactly the thing I miss the most.

When I was a kid, I loved Microsoft and Carta.

I could stay inside that one disc for hours and hours just clicking on everything.

Taiwan also had a lot of local multimedia CD-ROMs back then, like English learning discs, science discs, and all kinds of things.

One of them I still think about is a New Zealand travel CD-ROM made by a travel agency.

It was beautifully made, and it had a theme song that I can still hum today, but I can't find that disc anywhere now.

It's not on archive.org either.

I guess a lot of these local discs just disappeared.

I'm a musician, and I teach piano and composing.

When I was young, I also loved listening to MIDI and mod files on the PC.

I also had no money for a hardware sound module, so I used software synths like the Yamaha SYX-G50, the Roland VSC-55, which I think is based on the SC-55, and Windgroove.

Oh, wow, Windgroove.

So when I heard Canyon.mid at the beginning of your podcast, I couldn't help but smile because that was my daily driver soundtrack as a kid.

This podcast is for me.

Passport.mid is also one of my favorites.

I'm sure you know it well.

I even made my own cover of Passport.mid, and there's a link to a YouTube clip.

I'll send that on the podcast show notes.

By the way, I'm curious what you used to record your version of Canyon.mid.

I don't think I've ever heard those exact sounds before.

And to make my childhood dreams come true, as an adult, I finally bought all the sound modules I wanted back then.

Wow.

A Yamaha MU80, a Roland SE88, and quite a few more.

Hi, Super VGA.

My name's Wee Wee Kwan, and I'm writing from Taipei City, Taiwan.

I found your podcast a little while ago and I got so excited because Windows 3.1 era multimedia CD-ROMs are exactly the thing I miss the most.

When I was a kid, I loved Microsoft and Carta.

I could stay inside that one disc for hours and hours just clicking on everything.

Taiwan also had a lot of local multimedia CD-ROMs back then, like English learning discs, science discs, and all kinds of things.

One of them I still think about is a New Zealand travel CD-ROM made by a travel agency.

It was beautifully made, and it had a theme song that I can still hum today, but I can't find that disc anywhere now.

It's not on archive.org either.

I guess a lot of these local discs just disappeared.

I'm a musician, and I teach piano and composing.

When I was young, I also loved listening to MIDI and mod files on the PC.

I also had no money for a hardware sound module, so I used software synths like the Yamaha SYX-G50, the Roland VSC-55, which I think is based on the SC-55, and Windgroove.

Oh, wow, Windgroove.

So when I heard Canyon.mid at the beginning of your podcast, I couldn't help but smile because that was my daily driver soundtrack as a kid.

This podcast is for me.

Passport.mid is also one of my favorites.

I'm sure you know it well.

I even made my own cover of Passport.mid, and there's a link to a YouTube clip.

I'll send that on the podcast show notes.

By the way, I'm curious what you used to record your version of Canyon.mid.

I don't think I've ever heard those exact sounds before.

And to make my childhood dreams come true, as an adult, I finally bought all the sound modules I wanted back then.

Wow.

A Yamaha MU80, a Roland SE88, and quite a few more.