Amplitude Problem

Amplitude Problem
Amplitude Problem
Background information
Birth name	Juan Irming
Also known as	Amplitude Problem
Born	December 14, 1974 (age 49); Mallorca, Spain
Origin	Malmö, Sweden
Genres	Chiptune; Synthwave; Nerdcore; Cybersynth; Hip hop; Video game music;
Occupation(s)	Composer; Record producer; Software engineer;
Years active	1986–Present
Website	amplitudeproblem.com
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Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States

Juan Irming (born December 14, 1974), also known as Amplitude Problem, is a Swedish-American musician and producer currently based in Los Angeles. While the former hacker has had a long career in music beginning in the underground demoscene in Europe, he is best known for his chiptune, synthwave, and nerdcore tracks.^[1]

Biography

1974 - 1992: Early Life

Juan Irming was born to Swedish parents on the Spanish island Mallorca in 1974.^[2] In the '80s, Irming began to frequent a local computer store in Malmö called Computer Corner. The store had an Atari 130XE in the window that Irming was able to program with scrolling text displaying the store name. The store owners were so impressed, they brought the preteen on as a paid programmer.^[3] It was at this time Irming discovered his life-long passion for computer engineering which eventually led him to the demoscene, phone hacking (phreaking), early cracking underground, and computer hacker subculture in Europe.^[4]^[5]

Amplitude Problem's track Computer Corner was a tribute to the store's impact on his formative years as a young hacker. The music video for the song was created by German pixel artist Valenberg, the artist for the point-and-click cyberpunk video game VirtuaVerse.^[6]

1992 - Present: Immigration to US

Juan Irming immigrated to the United States from Sweden in the early '90s, to attend Musicians Institute in Hollywood. After his graduation, he spent time to focus on fatherhood and his programming career. Following his steps, his son, Maxwell "Max James" Irming also earned his degree at Musicians Institute and has pursued a professional career in software engineering and music production. The duo performed on the main stage together at the 2019 DEF CON 27 gathering in Las Vegas.^[7]

Irming resides in Los Angeles, California and currently works as a senior level software engineer and continues to produce music.^[8]

Music

1986 - 1993: Demoscene and Early Career

Juan Irming, known at the time as 7an, began in the late '80s in the European demoscene as a member and composer for the Atari ST demo crew and hacking group SYNC. Irming's "tracker music" placed first in many demo music contests.^[9]It was during this era that Irming began to make extensive use of vintage home computer hardware such as the Commodore 64, Atari 130XE, and the Atari ST in his productions, favoring the SID6581 and YM2149 computer sound chips to create a distinctive style of chiptune music.^[10]

2014 - Present

In 2014, Juan Irming, under the new moniker Amplitude Problem, would produce music for American hacker and nerdcore rapper YTCracker and other artists. Amplitude Problem has composed and produced video game inspired synth and chiptune tracks for a number of projects and records. Amplitude Problem produced YTCracker's cyberpunk album Introducing Neals which released on November 5th, 2014 on Guy Fawkes Day.^[11]^[12]

Amplitude Problem's Crime of Curiosity (2019) features well-known American hacker Loyd Blankenship, also known as The Mentor, reading his essay The Hacker Manifesto (originally titled The Conscience of a Hacker) which serves as a guideline and moral code of hackers around the world.^[13]

Crime of Curiosity is also featured as the official soundtrack to the demoscene history book THE CRACKERS: The Art of Cracking from 1984–1994.^[14]

Craigslist Hack Marketing Stunt

On November 23, 2014 at 8pm, there was a massive breach on the American classifieds website Craiglist. The attack was allegedly part of a guerilla marketing campaign for YTCracker's album Introducing Neals on which Amplitude Problem was the lead producer. Visitors of the Craiglist website were forcibly redirected to hacking website DigitalGangster.com, with a following redirect to a YouTube video^[15] which Gizmodo describes as a "very strange animated rap video that filled your ears with lyrics about freedom, privacy, and net neutrality".^[16]^[17]

YTCracker denied claims that he was behind the attack and noted he'd likely be accused due to his previous involvement in the criminal hacking scene. It is not yet known which individual or group performed the hack.

Discography

DEF CON 27 Soundtrack (various artists)
World Builder (2019) (solo effort)
Crime of Curiosity (2019) (featuring other demoscene/hacking artists)
Descendants of Funk (2018) (various artists)
Collision Theory (2017) (various artists)
The Frequency Modulators Orchestra, Vol. 1 (2017) (solo effort)
Hear the Living Dead (2016) (various artists)
Synchron Assembly (2016) (solo effort)
Chip Wars (2015) (various artists)
I Fight for the Users (2015) (various artists)
Grid Knights (2015) (various artists)
Coastal Keys (2015) (various artists)
Carpenter (2015) (various artists)
Blue Bots Dots (2015) (solo effort)
The Next Peak (2015) (various artists)
Introducing Neals (2014) (composition and production for YTCracker)