Composer Vito Ricci used the Commodore Amiga to write a symphony

A nostalgia overload.

The humble Amiga personal computer was never as popular in the US as it was in Europe, but to a generation of gamers it represents a peak era of gaming. Made by Commodore and sold from the mid-80s up until the mid-90s, the computer became popular with families in Europe simply because it was so versatile. Sure, you could use it as a word processor, music production tool or for image editing, but it would also play games that knocked the socks off its console alternatives.

Using a Commodore Amiga running Laurie Spiegel’s Music Mouse program, composer Vito Ricci recently put together a series of tracks that test the limits of the home computer system. These compositions were commissioned by Sanna Almajedi and Gary Abugan, who are currently involved in putting together an art exhibition in New York City based around the Amiga and its usage within music.

The show is called Intelligent Instruments, and Almajedi and Abugan have used the same name for a brand new label (an offshoot of Invisible City Editions), which will be focusing on bringing these unusual compositions to light. The first release is Ricci’s Symphony For Amiga, featuring six tracks of bizarre computer music that sounds unlike anything we’ve heard from the Amiga before.

You can listen to a few choice snippets below, and Symphony For Amiga will be released in October.