Ilmarin

[andrewwerdna]

Anybody listen to this band? I think it's quite excellent, and seemingly very underrated/unknown because I almost never see it mentioned. It has a very digital, flawless midi sort of sound, but I think that's a good thing in this case, perfect gaming background music.

ilmarin.bandcamp.com/

[Ananoriel]

I didn't know of them before. It sounds very cinematic, like a soundtrack of an old videogame, or a fantasymovie.

[curwenius]

I thought I knew Ilmarin, but I was thinking in Iymrya, not Ilmarin.
Now I've listened to it: a lot of musical notes, orchestral and not orchestral instruments, percussion, exactly the way I like it.
Some much music to listen to, so little time.
Thanks for the tip.

[chaucerianmyth]

Definitely going to be giving this a listen later! Based on what people are saying about it, I'm excited to hear! Thanks for sharing!

[Erang]

I know ilmarin since a long time and really appreciate it: always in my Dungeon's playlist!

You perfectly describe the "flawless digital midi" sound which gives both release a really distinctive atmosphere... sometimes this very "clear digital" sound doesn't work but, here, for some reasons I couldn't name, it works perfectly.

Definitely a "most listen" in my opinion.

[marchoyland]

Feb 11, 2017 8:27:23 GMT -5 andrewwerdna said:

Anybody listen to this band? I think it's quite excellent, and seemingly very underrated/unknown because I almost never see it mentioned. It has a very digital, flawless midi sort of sound, but I think that's a good thing in this case, perfect gaming background music.

ilmarin.bandcamp.com/

Thank you for the kind words. It means alot. You are pretty much spot on in regards to the gaming music feel. 

Ilmarin was created by my good friend Kev Thacker and myself in 1997/98. It was actually created to use in our gaming group for a roleplay world that was created by Kev Thacker and the group simply called Ilmarin. We played this through the GURPS system. All the tracks on both albums are either place names, people or events that took place in the world. 

As I mentioned there was 2 albums, the first which was self released on Pro-CDr to the tune of 50 copies which included a t-shirt into the bargain and the second album that was never released until I put it up in Bandcamp a few years ago.
The first album came together pretty quickly (roughly a year from beginning to end) while the second album took a little longer. By the time the second album was done we had stopped playing the game.

Equipment wise we used whatever we could get our hands on which usually resulted in really old stuff.... even a playstation was utilized for some of the sounds. We had no money but dreamt big!! 
Ilmarin gave me the inspiration to move onto my next ambient project called Hoyland but that is a far cry away from those humble beginnings. 

[marchoyland]

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[andrewwerdna]

A pen and paper campaign with a two-album soundtrack sounds like an incredible experience. That must've been some very powerful and inspiring gaming.

Also that's crazy to hear you used a Playstation to make it, I didn't know that was possible. Must be the only ds albums to have done that, I imagine that's why it has a unique sound despite seeming like a standard GM arrangement.

Welcome to the board btw.

[chaucerianmyth]

I would also be curious as to how one uses a playstation to make the music. I've never heard of anyone doing that before!

[marchoyland]

Feb 18, 2017 20:32:39 GMT -5 chaucerianmyth said:

I would also be curious as to how one uses a playstation to make the music. I've never heard of anyone doing that before!

So so sorry for the extremely late reply!! 6 years wow..
Playstation had a "game" that was called Music which was developed by Jester Interactive and published by Codemasters in 1998 for the original Playstation console.. We got a copy of this to see what it could actually do.. In this "game" (it was more like a DAW to be honest, just on the Playstation) you could write riffs and keyboard lines as such and arrange a song. If we used it we would get the basics of the track drawn out and put that part into the 4 or 8 track recorder, whatever we was using at the time.. Then use synths (Roland D50, ect) and play the rest. The set up we had for the first album was really simple and cheap.. Well, the second album wasn't much different to be honest, just more focused on what we could actually do with the tech available to us at the time. A couple of years later they released a sequel called Music 2000 again for the original Playstation. We have that a try also, which was even easier to use.. Later they did a third one but I had switched over to PC for music creation by that time.. I hope that helps and clears anything up?? Thanks again.. 

[magicwillow]

Dec 12, 2023 19:11:25 GMT -5 marchoyland said:

Feb 18, 2017 20:32:39 GMT -5 chaucerianmyth said:

I would also be curious as to how one uses a playstation to make the music. I've never heard of anyone doing that before!

So so sorry for the extremely late reply!! 6 years wow..
Playstation had a "game" that was called Music which was developed by Jester Interactive and published by Codemasters in 1998 for the original Playstation console.. We got a copy of this to see what it could actually do.. In this "game" (it was more like a DAW to be honest, just on the Playstation) you could write riffs and keyboard lines as such and arrange a song. If we used it we would get the basics of the track drawn out and put that part into the 4 or 8 track recorder, whatever we was using at the time.. Then use synths (Roland D50, ect) and play the rest. The set up we had for the first album was really simple and cheap.. Well, the second album wasn't much different to be honest, just more focused on what we could actually do with the tech available to us at the time. A couple of years later they released a sequel called Music 2000 again for the original Playstation. We have that a try also, which was even easier to use.. Later they did a third one but I had switched over to PC for music creation by that time.. I hope that helps and clears anything up?? Thanks again.. 

I love this music and I love the sound. Is there any possibility of having the bandcamp pages open for sale so we can add them to our digital music collections? I wouldnt mind paying for it!

[andrewwerdna]

Those "games" seem really neat, definitely a unique way to approach music production, even today to create inspiring limitations. I would've loved to have one of those a kid.