rmay635703 wrote on 2020-11-05, 12:31:

Hmm another Covid problem

Shouldn't it be the other way around? People stuck at home with nothing to do but wait for it to pass? Plenty of time for editing, no?

Hope it's not lost, I just was pointed to this thread. Sounds terribly interesting!

As a kid I actually bought an AdLib for my 286! The 'Game Blaster' thing had arrived and it, and the upcoming SoundBlaster was starting to put pressure on AdLib best I could tell, as I got the AdLib for something like $40-60CDN back in the day. Who'd have thought that they'd be so darn expensive these days!

Coming from the Commodore 64, it was so amazing to have an AdLib, it was so disappointing downgrading to a 286 with CGA & a beep/boop speaker. At least the AdLib added life!

For me it's obvious to go with letterboxing option #1, besides, in digital domain with good compression I do not think an animated and/or colored backdrop might be bad if it's not too disconcerting.

What an odd picture choice... do I recognize former Montréal city mayor Gérald Tremblay while he was seating at the National Assembly of Québec from 1989-1996 ? I remember the guys at adlib complaining that the government did not provide them with much assistance or recognition, so maybe it's part of your video since he was minister of Industries, Commerce and Technologies at the time.

Bumping your thread, Beegle, any update on your project ? I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say we are eager to watch what you did.

Do you have any issues, maybe we could be of some help ?

Wow, what a thread... Is there a chance we'll see the interview on YouTube soon? I think Beegle has been active on Vogons recently 😀

So, it’s been a while.
And a lot has happened, so much so that I’m not even sure where to begin!

TL;DR : Eight new people interviewed, so a total of eleven currently. More to come.

My last actual project update was basically in 2019, so that’s a long ways back.
At the time, I had found a composer for the project, had received footage from the National Assembly… so here’s the other news for the remainder of 2019 :

• B-Roll for Claridge building/offices has been filmed by a friend
  
  

• Multiple timelapse/B-Roll of Quebec city has been filmed
  
  
  

At the beginning of 2020 I managed to find and interview Marie Lévesque, retired teacher at Laval University who was also Martin Prével’s first wife and with whom he studied classical guitar in Europe. Incredible resource of information about Prével's youth, studies, mindset and goals throughout his career. She provided archival pictures as well!

• Marie Lévesque interviewed
  

• Archival pictures!
  

I also got in contact with classmates they had while in France mid 60s, because the fellow guitarist (Evangelos Assimakopoulos) had pictures of the group!

• Pictures from Evangelos, of the Presti and Lagyoa class in France
  

I also started receiving new tracks, composed specifically for the project, from the composer.

When Covid has hit here in Quebec, there were restrictions on how/when we could meet people. I had planned to interview Paul Marcoux, Julie Beaulieu and Jacques Benoit when coming back from a business trip early in 2020, but that was disallowed by the government. So I had to do other things and that put the brakes on the project.

One composer (Raymond Skilling) whom I interviewed back in 2016, has scanned pictures of AdLib’s “bankruptcy party” in 1992 and allowed me to use them in the project.

I got in touch with Cendrine Tremblay who worked as a receptionist and management, and interviewed her, in 2020 as well :

• Interview with Cendrine
  

In parallel, due to some photos from Marie Lévesque having a copyright notice on the back, I found the professional photographer who still had negatives of the guitar duo, and began the process of buying the rights to use in the project.

In late 2020 I got in touch with composer Alexander Brandon (Unreal, Tyrian, Deus Ex, etc.) , who started composing music for games initially because of the AdLib card. He had a lot of nice things to say about it, and multiple anecdotes from his immense experience in the games industry. He very kindly accepted the my request for an interview, and it was done remotely early in 2021 :

• Alexander Brandon interview
  

I started collecting archival material of Quebec city (postcards, press pictures, etc.) to use in transition scenes :

• Postcards for transitions, of Quebec city and Université Laval in the 70s and 80s
  
  

In 2021 I contacted Ken Williams after reading his book where he mentions casually that Sierra sold “Sierra-branded AdLib cards”. I wanted him to give me more details about the partnership between the two companies and how he thought sound cards altered how games were designed. He gracefully sent me an email back and took the time to answer my questions.

In 2022, Covid restrictions were lifted and we could see people freely again. An interview was set up with Paul Marcoux (composer) and Julie Beaulieu (management, administration) :

• Interview with Julie and Paul
  

A quick trip to Gaspésie was organized to get timelapse footage from Fort Prével (an old fort used to guard the entrance to the St-Lawrence river against submarines during ww2)

• Fort Prével B-Roll
  
  

An interview was organized with Mike McGrath, who worked in AdLib’s marketing department and was present during the transition between AdLib, the bankruptcy, and then AdLib Multimedia. The interview happened in July 2022. Mike still had lots of material from the AdLib days, which I scanned eagarly.

• Interview with Mike McGrath
  

I got in touch with Yves Marcoux, who worked with Martin Prével at the LIM (Laboratoire d’informatique musicale) back in the late 70s where they were developing music-learning computers to help students and reduce repetitive tasks for teachers. He accepted the interview which happened in October of 2022:

• Interview with Yves Marcoux
  

Being a professor, Yves has also been a gateway to be allowed to search the archives from Laval University. We went multiple times together, then I returned a few times alone. We found bits of documentation on the LIM as well as traces of Prével at the University. Archive pictures and archive footage of Martin Prével and his music computer were uncovered, and rights were acquired to use in the project :

• Archives from Université Laval, Martin Prével talks about the Exercette "music learning" computer
  
  

In October 2022, three items were listed on eBay – all were add-ons for the AdLib Gold 1000. I contacted the seller (also an ex-employee of AdLib and Adlib Multimedia!) to meet and get photo and video material of the items before they sold. The idea was to provide pictures for Wikipedia, as well as film B-Roll for the project :

• AdLib Gold add-ons B-Roll footage
  

In 2023 so far, I have re-contacted Jacques Benoit (Software Development Lead at AdLib) whom I had spoken to in 2019 initially, to reiterate the possibility of an interview, and he accepted. He was a gold mine of information about AdLib since he was there to bridge the gap for the early years when the project started still at Laval University, up until development was completed on the software suite (AdLib composer, Instrument Maker, Music Championship, etc.) So his input was immensely important to complete the story, and he was quite fun to interview :

• Jacques Benoit interviewed
  

• His prototype AdLib with a speaker on it
  

In terms of updates, I think that’s the gist of it.

My health is currently not at its best and to put it bluntly, every day is an uphill battle. But I’m trying to stay positive and persevere. It’s difficult. At least I have something to show for the elapsed time between updates.

The project continues on with many people I’m planning to interview, and many things I’m preparing as well.
Stay tuned!

sf78 wrote on 2020-11-05, 10:24:

So, any news on this? Stuck in editing limbo?

Yes and no. I suggest you read above! In short : new material, interviews, and footage makes for a more complete project, but at the expense of time.

neozeed wrote on 2021-06-27, 04:18:

Hope it's not lost, I just was pointed to this thread. Sounds terribly interesting!

I appreciate the kind words. This project is driving me insane 🤣

ElBrunzy wrote on 2022-08-02, 22:29:

Do you have any issues, maybe we could be of some help ?

Apart from my health currently, my biggest issue was covid restrictions and they’ve been lifted. I’ll certainly let you know if I need a fresh eye on something.

mmontag wrote on 2022-12-16, 05:47:

Wow, what a thread... Is there a chance we'll see the interview on YouTube soon?

Thanks for the kind words! I wouldn’t say “soon” since there’s a lot of new interviews and material. The project is indeed moving forward, but I’m not sure how to predict a clear “when” at this stage.

Thanks for the massive update Beegle!
I am eager to watch the end result - eventually!
I wish you best of luck with the health issues and a quick improvement/recovery! 😀

Wow, didn’t expect this project to grow so big. Waiting eagerly for the final movie.

This is such a neat project, destined to be a landmark in our little community.
Thank you for your hard work and for sharing the update. The B-roll footage looks great, and it's really cool that you got an interview with Alexander Brandon!

Sending well wishes from San Francisco.

I am very happy to know about you! Thanks for your update.

Wow, great news! I'm sooooo keen to watch the movie, wishing you all the best with your health and this wonderful project!

GL1zdA wrote on 2023-05-22, 04:35:

Wow, didn’t expect this project to grow so big. Waiting eagerly for the final movie.

I know right!
You can tell this is a labour of love so I'm sure it'll be amazing once its completed released (as things like this are never complete for the creator

you should pitch this to some streaming companies, maybe netflix or someone similar would pay decent for distribution rights?

Amazing stuff! Good luck with the health issues, but what a cool project. I can't wait to see more, and the final product 😀

Thank you for the update and all your hard work!

I'm glad to see that this project is still alive, and surprised that you have managed to contact and interview so many more interesting people than you had already mentioned. This thing has really taken on a life of its own.

Still, please make sure you take the time to care for yourself first. This is a story that has waited 30+ years to be told; a few more years won't really make much of a difference. Don't force yourself through it if it compromises your health.

OriginalDan wrote on 2023-05-22, 12:03:

you should pitch this to some streaming companies, maybe netflix or someone similar would pay decent for distribution rights?

Some of the super high quality documentaries/retrospectives you have to wonder?

You would think they could be full commercial.

Beegle wrote on 2023-05-22, 04:02:

Yes and no. I suggest you read above! In short : new material, interviews, and footage makes for a more complete project, but at […]
Show full quote

sf78 wrote on 2020-11-05, 10:24:

So, any news on this? Stuck in editing limbo?

Yes and no. I suggest you read above! In short : new material, interviews, and footage makes for a more complete project, but at the expense of time.

neozeed wrote on 2021-06-27, 04:18:

Hope it's not lost, I just was pointed to this thread. Sounds terribly interesting!

I appreciate the kind words. This project is driving me insane 🤣

ElBrunzy wrote on 2022-08-02, 22:29:

Do you have any issues, maybe we could be of some help ?

Apart from my health currently, my biggest issue was covid restrictions and they’ve been lifted. I’ll certainly let you know if I need a fresh eye on something.

mmontag wrote on 2022-12-16, 05:47:

Wow, what a thread... Is there a chance we'll see the interview on YouTube soon?

Thanks for the kind words! I wouldn’t say “soon” since there’s a lot of new interviews and material. The project is indeed moving forward, but I’m not sure how to predict a clear “when” at this stage.

I don't know if you've seen this Beegle , but apparently there was an OPL2 card made by the university of Delaware in 1986 , the year before the adlib was available and some people made a post about it on Vogons.
Would it be possible to ask any of the people from adlib if they knew anything about the card or were influenced by it?
Only if you want to of course , I just thought it was interesting.

An AdLib-Compatible Card (1986) Older than AdLib (1987)

Here's the card picture from the Vogons post.

Kind of surprised no one brought this up already as the post was made by suntac in 2020.
Unless someone did mention it here and i missed it?

AppleSauce wrote on 2023-06-27, 06:27:

I don't know if you've seen this Beegle , but apparently there was an OPL2 card made by the university of Delaware in 1986 , the […]
Show full quote

Beegle wrote on 2023-05-22, 04:02:

Yes and no. I suggest you read above! In short : new material, interviews, and footage makes for a more complete project, but at […]
Show full quote

sf78 wrote on 2020-11-05, 10:24:

So, any news on this? Stuck in editing limbo?

Yes and no. I suggest you read above! In short : new material, interviews, and footage makes for a more complete project, but at the expense of time.

neozeed wrote on 2021-06-27, 04:18:

Hope it's not lost, I just was pointed to this thread. Sounds terribly interesting!

I appreciate the kind words. This project is driving me insane 🤣

ElBrunzy wrote on 2022-08-02, 22:29:

Do you have any issues, maybe we could be of some help ?

Apart from my health currently, my biggest issue was covid restrictions and they’ve been lifted. I’ll certainly let you know if I need a fresh eye on something.

mmontag wrote on 2022-12-16, 05:47:

Wow, what a thread... Is there a chance we'll see the interview on YouTube soon?

Thanks for the kind words! I wouldn’t say “soon” since there’s a lot of new interviews and material. The project is indeed moving forward, but I’m not sure how to predict a clear “when” at this stage.

I don't know if you've seen this Beegle , but apparently there was an OPL2 card made by the university of Delaware in 1986 , the year before the adlib was available and some people made a post about it on Vogons.
Would it be possible to ask any of the people from adlib if they knew anything about the card or were influenced by it?
Only if you want to of course , I just thought it was interesting.

An AdLib-Compatible Card (1986) Older than AdLib (1987)

Here's the card picture from the Vogons post.
00_adlib_predecessor_1986_top.jpg

Kind of surprised no one brought this up already as the post was made by suntac in 2020.
Unless someone did mention it here and i missed it?

Never seen it before, but I do love the clearly manual routing on the card!