Difference between revisions of "David Whittaker"
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{{Infobox Composer | {{Infobox Composer | ||
− | | Name = David Whittaker | + | | Name = David Whittaker |
− | | Picture = David Whittaker - 5.jpg | + | | Picture = David Whittaker - 5.jpg |
− | | Born = 1957-04-24 | + | | Born = 1957-04-24 |
− | | BirthPlace = Bury, England | + | | BirthPlace = Bury, Lancashire, England |
− | | Nationality = British | + | | Nationality = British |
− | | Flag = UK | + | | Flag = UK |
− | | Aliases = D. Whittaker | + | | Aliases = D. Whittaker<br>Dave Whittaker<br>David Whitaker<br>Dave Whitaker<br>D. Whitaker<br>DialogueGuru<br>David Whittaker Using Quartet |
− | | Website = youtube.com/user/dialogueguru | + | | Website = youtube.com/user/dialogueguru |
}} | }} | ||
− | '''''David Whittaker''''' is a British musician | + | '''''David Whittaker''''' is a British video game musician. He is one of the most popular video game musicians in the world. He is known for composing such gems as Lazy Jones, Shadow of the Beast and Glider Rider, which are the top soundtracks that made him popular. Whittaker has scored around 100 video games on many platforms each, probably more than any other video game musician. |
− | + | Whittaker attended local Derby Grammar School. His favorite subjects were French and geography, but not music because there was much more history than theory and practice. After leaving school, he had 14 full-time jobs, including electronics assembly, office work, forklift driving, cloth dyeing, and making cardboard tubes. Musically, he started out performing on keyboard and vocals full-time in Clive Farrington's New Romantic band Beau Leisure, which got quite well-known around Altrincham, Greater Manchester, but never made money. Whittaker also plays a Strat, an Ovation, has been a DJ and met [[Kraftwerk]] in Liverpool, Merseyside, in 1981. | |
− | + | In February 1982, aged 24, he read about the Sinclair ZX81, but could not afford £80. Instead, he bought a [[Commodore VIC-20]] and paid in installments, starting with £10-£20. He learned BASIC programming from the manual and started programming games for [[Mr. Micro]] using a machine code monitor. As his game music was better than that by other programmers, music became a full-time job. He bought a [[Commodore 64]] from Mr. Micro, went to [[Terminal Software]], then freelance, then Terminal's successor [[Binary Design]] full-time, and then founded [[Musicon Design]]. From that point on, he was sometimes offered so many game music jobs that he had to decline and have given to [[Rob Hubbard]] and other composers. | |
− | + | He was the main composer and sound designer for various developers such as [[Audiogenic]] and [[B.I.T.S.]]. Whittaker was usually good about lending his sound drivers to other companies, but some also used them without permission. In 1999, Zombie Nation, a techno group, stole David Whittaker's Lazy Jones tune for their single Kernkraft 400. When Whittaker called them up, they apologized and paid him £9000 to use his song, which he claims was more than he got paid for the game. | |
− | In | + | In January 1993, Hubbard worked for [[Electronic Arts]] in the USA and phoned Whittaker. EA desperately needed a [[Genesis]] and [[SNES]] sound designer. In March, Whittaker went to an interview, and on June 29, his wife and he moved to the USA and got a mansion. Around March 1997, he switched to dialog scripting, directing, recording and editing which he currently does with [[Traveller's Tales]]. All the time, though, his wife and he were homesick, and when EA laid off a third in February 2001, Whittaker decided they move back to his hometown, which they did in July. |
− | Whittaker | + | While some fans call him the best SID composer, Whittaker believes that [[Rob Hubbard]] is truly the best. His favorite computers that he liked to compose on were the Commodore 64 and the Commodore Amiga, with the Commodore VIC-20 being his least favorite. Whittaker says he appreciates the fans' support over the years. When asked in 1986, he said he is the nephew of Roger Whittaker. |
− | + | ==Music Development== | |
− | ==Music | ||
Whittaker has been notorious for copying and pasting his music and transposing it to a different key. This is especially true in his NES soundtracks. This was probably because of the difficulty of having to write most of his music in machine code. | Whittaker has been notorious for copying and pasting his music and transposing it to a different key. This is especially true in his NES soundtracks. This was probably because of the difficulty of having to write most of his music in machine code. | ||
===Amiga=== | ===Amiga=== | ||
− | He wrote his own audio driver which used a form of [[Music Macro Language]]. Whittaker said his instrument samples were taken from his Korg M1, a popular keyboard at the time, and also programmed some waveforms of his own. | + | He wrote his own audio driver which used a form of [[Music Macro Language]]. Whittaker said his instrument samples were taken from his [[M1|Korg M1]], a popular keyboard at the time, and also programmed some waveforms of his own. |
===Atari ST=== | ===Atari ST=== | ||
− | + | [[Loopz (AST)]] says Whittaker used [[Quartet]], a popular music program for the Atari ST. Whittaker probably used this method for all (if not some) of his games, though he also probably coded his own sound engine. | |
===Commodore 64=== | ===Commodore 64=== | ||
− | + | Whittaker composed on a [[Yamaha]] CX5M, a Casio CZ-230S, and a Roland Jupiter-6. He then wrote his own audio driver in [[assembly]] and programmed his music. | |
===Game Boy=== | ===Game Boy=== | ||
− | Whittaker converted his NES music to the Game Boy using his own audio driver. The music was written in [[assembly]]. | + | Whittaker converted his NES music to the Game Boy using his own audio driver. The music was written in [[assembly]]. When Dark Technologies developed [[The Lion King (GB)]], they used Whittaker's sound engine without his permission. |
===Game Gear/Sega Master System=== | ===Game Gear/Sega Master System=== | ||
− | + | Whittaker created a sound engine and wrote the music in [[assembly]]. Because David Whittaker did not know FM synthesis programming, he never made a sound engine for the Genesis/Mega Drive. | |
===Genesis=== | ===Genesis=== | ||
Line 45: | Line 44: | ||
===NES=== | ===NES=== | ||
− | Whittaker converted his Commodore 64 sound driver to work on the NES. Not too difficult since they both used the same [[assembly]] language, but he had to account for the difference between the Commodore's SID chip, and the NES chip. Whittaker arranged [[Neuromantic Productions]] music in many ports of Krusty's Fun House | + | Whittaker converted his Commodore 64 sound driver to work on the NES. Not too difficult since they both used the same [[assembly]] language, but he had to account for the difference between the Commodore's SID chip, and the NES chip. Whittaker arranged [[Neuromantic Productions]] music in many ports of Krusty's Fun House. Whittaker licensed his audio driver to [[Manfred Trenz]] for him to use in his [[Super Turrican (NES)]]. The sound driver was later modified and used by Trenz to compose music. Whittaker's driver was also used by Dark Technologies for their only NES title The Lion King. However, Whittaker says that he didn't give them permission to use their driver and that he didn't lend it to them. |
===SNES=== | ===SNES=== | ||
− | + | Whittaker wrote his own audio driver in [[assembly]]. His instruments were sampled from his Amiga samples from the [[M1|Korg M1]]. He would sell his sound driver to companies like [[Psygnosis]] for £5000. He lent his sound driver to the Japanese developer [[Imagineer]]. | |
==Gameography== | ==Gameography== | ||
− | {| class="wikitable" | + | {| class="wikitable" |
! Released | ! Released | ||
! Title | ! Title | ||
Line 75: | Line 74: | ||
| [[Tetris (BBC)]] | | [[Tetris (BBC)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-1?-?? | ||
+ | | Xeno (C64) | ||
+ | | Sound Effect Driver. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
Line 126: | Line 129: | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
| [[Sanxion (C64)]] | | [[Sanxion (C64)]] | ||
− | | | + | | Sound Effects. |
|- | |- | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
Line 171: | Line 174: | ||
| [[Zub (ZXS)]] | | [[Zub (ZXS)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1987-07-?? | ||
+ | | [[Cosmonut (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1987-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Shadow Skimmer (C64)]] | ||
+ | | <div style="width:300px">Sound Effects and unused early version of [[Cosmonut (C64)]].</div> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1987-??-?? | | 1987-??-?? | ||
Line 213: | Line 224: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1987-??-?? | | 1987-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[Feud (CPC)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 1,309: | Line 1,320: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 2000-11-01 | | 2000-11-01 | ||
− | | [[007: The World | + | | [[007: The World Is Not Enough (N64)]] |
− | | | + | | Audio Director |
|- | |- | ||
| 2005-11-14 | | 2005-11-14 | ||
| [[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (PS2)]] | | [[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (PS2)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 2009-05-07 | ||
+ | | [[Infection (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 1,347: | Line 1,362: | ||
==Picture Gallery== | ==Picture Gallery== | ||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
− | + | Dwhittaker.jpg|Unknown Source. | |
− | + | David Whittaker - 2.jpg|Unknown Source. | |
− | + | David Whittaker - 3.jpg|Unknown Source. | |
− | + | David Whittaker - 04.png|Taken by ExoticA at Back In Time Live 2002. | |
− | + | David_Whittaker - 5.jpg|David with his [[M1|Korg M1]]; [http://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?view=1655&detail=photos]. | |
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
− | * [ | + | * [https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,800/ mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,800/] - MobyGames. |
− | * [https://twitter.com/dialogueguru twitter.com/dialogueguru] - Twitter | + | * [https://www.facebook.com/david.whittaker.9210 facebook.com/david.whittaker.9210] - Facebook. |
− | * [ | + | * [https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=43051881&locale=en_US&trk=tyah2 linkedin.com/profile/view?id=43051881&locale=en_US&trk=tyah2] - LinkedIn. |
− | * [ | + | * [https://twitter.com/dialogueguru twitter.com/dialogueguru] - Twitter. |
− | * [http://www.karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/david.htm karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/david.htm] - Interview. | + | * [https://www.youtube.com/user/DialogueGuru youtube.com/user/DialogueGuru] - YouTube. |
− | * [http:// | + | * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFH5vS1EqNs&t=1m34s youtube.com/watch?v=iFH5vS1EqNs&t=1m34s] - Video Interview. |
+ | * [http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=016&page=040&magazine=zzap <!-- NOTE: as of this writing, removing the www. will only lead to a 404 -->www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=016&page=040&magazine=zzap] - Group Interview with Hubbard, [[Ben Daglish]], [[Antony Crowther]] and Whittaker from August 1986. | ||
+ | * [http://craigsretrocomputingpage.eu5.org/davidwhittaker/davidwhittaker.html craigsretrocomputingpage.eu5.org/davidwhittaker/davidwhittaker.html] - Interview from 1987. | ||
+ | * [http://st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-2-issue-7/features/interview-with-david-whittaker/ st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-2-issue-7/features/interview-with-david-whittaker/] - Interview from October 31, 1987. | ||
+ | * [https://www.karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/david.htm karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/david.htm] - Interview from September 1998. | ||
+ | * [http://web.archive.org/web/20101228171348/http://www.c64.com/audio/David%20Whittaker%20%5BBack%20in%20Time%20Live%202001%20interview%5D.mp3 web.archive.org/web/20101228171348/http://www.c64.com/audio/David%20Whittaker%20%5BBack%20in%20Time%20Live%202001%20interview%5D.mp3] - Audio Interview from 2001. | ||
+ | * [http://www.c64.com/interviews/whittaker.html c64.com/interviews/whittaker.html] - Interview from July 2001 or later. | ||
+ | * [https://www.remix64.com/interviews/interview-david-whittaker.html remix64.com/interviews/interview-david-whittaker.html] - Interview from October 2, 2001. | ||
+ | * [https://archive.org/details/Sinclair_ZX_Spectrum_and_Commodore_64_Book-2012/page/n133 archive.org/details/Sinclair_ZX_Spectrum_and_Commodore_64_Book-2012/page/n133] - Interview from 2009<!--not 2012-->. | ||
Revision as of 15:54, 28 January 2020
David Whittaker | ||||||||||
|
David Whittaker is a British video game musician. He is one of the most popular video game musicians in the world. He is known for composing such gems as Lazy Jones, Shadow of the Beast and Glider Rider, which are the top soundtracks that made him popular. Whittaker has scored around 100 video games on many platforms each, probably more than any other video game musician.
Whittaker attended local Derby Grammar School. His favorite subjects were French and geography, but not music because there was much more history than theory and practice. After leaving school, he had 14 full-time jobs, including electronics assembly, office work, forklift driving, cloth dyeing, and making cardboard tubes. Musically, he started out performing on keyboard and vocals full-time in Clive Farrington's New Romantic band Beau Leisure, which got quite well-known around Altrincham, Greater Manchester, but never made money. Whittaker also plays a Strat, an Ovation, has been a DJ and met Kraftwerk in Liverpool, Merseyside, in 1981.
In February 1982, aged 24, he read about the Sinclair ZX81, but could not afford £80. Instead, he bought a Commodore VIC-20 and paid in installments, starting with £10-£20. He learned BASIC programming from the manual and started programming games for Mr. Micro using a machine code monitor. As his game music was better than that by other programmers, music became a full-time job. He bought a Commodore 64 from Mr. Micro, went to Terminal Software, then freelance, then Terminal's successor Binary Design full-time, and then founded Musicon Design. From that point on, he was sometimes offered so many game music jobs that he had to decline and have given to Rob Hubbard and other composers.
He was the main composer and sound designer for various developers such as Audiogenic and B.I.T.S.. Whittaker was usually good about lending his sound drivers to other companies, but some also used them without permission. In 1999, Zombie Nation, a techno group, stole David Whittaker's Lazy Jones tune for their single Kernkraft 400. When Whittaker called them up, they apologized and paid him £9000 to use his song, which he claims was more than he got paid for the game.
In January 1993, Hubbard worked for Electronic Arts in the USA and phoned Whittaker. EA desperately needed a Genesis and SNES sound designer. In March, Whittaker went to an interview, and on June 29, his wife and he moved to the USA and got a mansion. Around March 1997, he switched to dialog scripting, directing, recording and editing which he currently does with Traveller's Tales. All the time, though, his wife and he were homesick, and when EA laid off a third in February 2001, Whittaker decided they move back to his hometown, which they did in July.
While some fans call him the best SID composer, Whittaker believes that Rob Hubbard is truly the best. His favorite computers that he liked to compose on were the Commodore 64 and the Commodore Amiga, with the Commodore VIC-20 being his least favorite. Whittaker says he appreciates the fans' support over the years. When asked in 1986, he said he is the nephew of Roger Whittaker.
Contents
Music Development
Whittaker has been notorious for copying and pasting his music and transposing it to a different key. This is especially true in his NES soundtracks. This was probably because of the difficulty of having to write most of his music in machine code.
Amiga
He wrote his own audio driver which used a form of Music Macro Language. Whittaker said his instrument samples were taken from his Korg M1, a popular keyboard at the time, and also programmed some waveforms of his own.
Atari ST
Loopz (AST) says Whittaker used Quartet, a popular music program for the Atari ST. Whittaker probably used this method for all (if not some) of his games, though he also probably coded his own sound engine.
Commodore 64
Whittaker composed on a Yamaha CX5M, a Casio CZ-230S, and a Roland Jupiter-6. He then wrote his own audio driver in assembly and programmed his music.
Game Boy
Whittaker converted his NES music to the Game Boy using his own audio driver. The music was written in assembly. When Dark Technologies developed The Lion King (GB), they used Whittaker's sound engine without his permission.
Game Gear/Sega Master System
Whittaker created a sound engine and wrote the music in assembly. Because David Whittaker did not know FM synthesis programming, he never made a sound engine for the Genesis/Mega Drive.
Genesis
Because David Whittaker wasn't familiar with FM synthesis, he used Don Veca's sound driver. He created MIDI files in an unknown sequencer which were converted into Veca's driver.
NES
Whittaker converted his Commodore 64 sound driver to work on the NES. Not too difficult since they both used the same assembly language, but he had to account for the difference between the Commodore's SID chip, and the NES chip. Whittaker arranged Neuromantic Productions music in many ports of Krusty's Fun House. Whittaker licensed his audio driver to Manfred Trenz for him to use in his Super Turrican (NES). The sound driver was later modified and used by Trenz to compose music. Whittaker's driver was also used by Dark Technologies for their only NES title The Lion King. However, Whittaker says that he didn't give them permission to use their driver and that he didn't lend it to them.
SNES
Whittaker wrote his own audio driver in assembly. His instruments were sampled from his Amiga samples from the Korg M1. He would sell his sound driver to companies like Psygnosis for £5000. He lent his sound driver to the Japanese developer Imagineer.
Gameography
Picture Gallery
- David Whittaker - 2.jpg
Unknown Source.
- David Whittaker - 3.jpg
Unknown Source.
- David Whittaker - 04.png
Taken by ExoticA at Back In Time Live 2002.
Links
- mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,800/ - MobyGames.
- facebook.com/david.whittaker.9210 - Facebook.
- linkedin.com/profile/view?id=43051881&locale=en_US&trk=tyah2 - LinkedIn.
- twitter.com/dialogueguru - Twitter.
- youtube.com/user/DialogueGuru - YouTube.
- youtube.com/watch?v=iFH5vS1EqNs&t=1m34s - Video Interview.
- www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=016&page=040&magazine=zzap - Group Interview with Hubbard, Ben Daglish, Antony Crowther and Whittaker from August 1986.
- craigsretrocomputingpage.eu5.org/davidwhittaker/davidwhittaker.html - Interview from 1987.
- st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-2-issue-7/features/interview-with-david-whittaker/ - Interview from October 31, 1987.
- karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/david.htm - Interview from September 1998.
- web.archive.org/web/20101228171348/http://www.c64.com/audio/David%20Whittaker%20%5BBack%20in%20Time%20Live%202001%20interview%5D.mp3 - Audio Interview from 2001.
- c64.com/interviews/whittaker.html - Interview from July 2001 or later.
- remix64.com/interviews/interview-david-whittaker.html - Interview from October 2, 2001.
- archive.org/details/Sinclair_ZX_Spectrum_and_Commodore_64_Book-2012/page/n133 - Interview from 2009.