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Post by verimatara on Mar 31, 2022 18:36:45 GMT -5
My DS journey started when I heard Tomhet from Burzum when I was exploring black metal back in high school. That got me into other similar sounding songs from other black metal bands like Det nye riket from Dimmu Borgir or the Mortiis albums. I always liked the "intro/outro" songs way more than the actual black metal. Dark ambient was the term I used to search similar music I think. But then I moved on to other music, occasionally returning back to Burzum ambient.
Other stuff that I liked and can be linked to me finding DS was video game music. Especially Runescape and Daggerfall. Some of the music in those games are very dungeon synthy. Examples Old runescape soundtracks: Rellakka, Sage and from Daggerfall Dungeon theme 4.
Then many years later in 2018 re-discovering the genre trough youtube. It is funny and interesting to look back what I listened when I was young and how some those same songs are inspiring current DS artist.
So to answer the question, nostalgia got me back into this. And oh boy, there is a lot of dungeon synth nowadays. I could just listen to DS and never catch up to everything.
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Post by crystallogic13 on Apr 2, 2022 0:50:24 GMT -5
Welcome verimatara , indeed I think Tomhet in retrospect (or Basil Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian OST) is where for many of us it all started, although personally I was clueless back then on how to even find similar music (besides rest of ambient Burzum stuff etc.) .. I always like to read this thread and see similar stories for so many people leading to the discovery of modern era DS.. And of course video game music and especially rpg as well as its (tabletop too) aesthetics are always a nice compliment to the inherited black metal aesthetics.. So many things combined in a cauldron for such a needed genre that came to be .. Regards and welcome!! p.s. Nostalgia, indeed another magic word and common factor for so many of us for days and eras long gone by.. And the more you age, the more you long for such glimpses as memory fades slowly :/ |
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Painter
Squire
Let me paint your album covers.
Posts: 97
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Post by Painter on May 15, 2022 12:36:37 GMT -5
Synthwave, actually. I was looking up synth covers of themes from fantasy games, and that's how I ended up looking up Dungeon Synth. I did not expect it to be an entire genre, and I especially did not expect it to sound the way it did. I had just left the realm of rich lush, ripping synths and toms, snares and kicks drenched in reverb at 120 bpm. This was an entirely different experience all together.
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engraven
Squire
No heroes / No lords
Posts: 96
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Post by engraven on Jul 12, 2022 14:05:44 GMT -5
Mine is probably the most common answer to the question: Summoning. Before Summoning, I would say it was Agalloch's The Mantle that turned me on to things dark, atmospheric, and nature-oriented. I waited over 3 hours for In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion to download on Limewire on my 56k connection back in like 2003 lmao, and my life was forever changed.
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malivorn
Peasant
Leave no Castle, no Dungeon, and no Tower unexplored.
Posts: 6
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Post by malivorn on Jul 18, 2022 15:18:17 GMT -5
Runescape music was sort of my first introduction to the Dungeon Synth sound, but my official discovery of Dungeon Synth would be hearing Lamentation's Eine Symphonie Der Nacht back a few years ago.
From there, I discovered many more Dungeon Synth projects through Youtube/Bandcamp. Funny enough, I was already a fan of Burzum but hadn't listened to anything past Filosofem. It was great to find that he had created two amazing Dungeon Synth albums in Prison! I was inspired to create my own project and have been obsessed with the genre ever since.
Current favorite Dungeon Synth albums/Projects are:
Burzum - Daudi Baldrs/Hlidskjalf
Old Tower - Spectral Horizons/Stellary Wisdom
Thangorodrim - Taur-nu-Fuin
Mortiis - Mortiis - Født til å herske
Eternal Fear - Ancient Woods
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Post by SeigneurGorbag on Aug 24, 2022 20:08:53 GMT -5
When you're a fantasy books fan, when you love RPGs, when you're into black metal, Dungeon Synth is attractive. The esthetic of the old school dungeon synth just felt natural to me the first time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X376t0B38hM&ab_channel=TheDungeonSynthArchivesThis was the first full dungeon synth album I've ever listened, and my entry to the genre. |
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Post by crystallogic13 on Aug 25, 2022 4:36:08 GMT -5
When you're a fantasy books fan, when you love RPGs, when you're into black metal, Dungeon Synth is attractive. The esthetic of the old school dungeon synth just felt natural to me the first time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X376t0B38hM&ab_channel=TheDungeonSynthArchivesThis was the first full dungeon synth album I've ever listened, and my entry to the genre. Ahhh Corvus Neblus, excellent choice, his 2 releases are some of (not only mine  ) beloved of the DS genre, I was discussing couple of months back with another member of the forum on these two and specifically about the speech/samples used there, it still is unsolved where he sourced them... Some of the audio books on Ravenloft, were examined by the aforementioned great forumer but they weren't those, while afaik they also are not from the RPGs of SSI, Ravenloft 1 nor 2.. But of course it's not the samples but the perfect atmosphere and music and use of them combined that makes this one of my favorites ever in the genre too, I almost find it nostalgic/relaxing just to listen to it and be transported back in time.. Excellent stuff!! Welcome btw SeigneurGorbag ! |
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Post by SeigneurGorbag on Aug 25, 2022 13:03:37 GMT -5
When you're a fantasy books fan, when you love RPGs, when you're into black metal, Dungeon Synth is attractive. The esthetic of the old school dungeon synth just felt natural to me the first time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X376t0B38hM&ab_channel=TheDungeonSynthArchivesThis was the first full dungeon synth album I've ever listened, and my entry to the genre. Ahhh Corvus Neblus, excellent choice, his 2 releases are some of (not only mine ) beloved of the DS genre, I was discussing couple of months back with another member of the forum on these two and specifically about the speech/samples used there, it still is unsolved where he sourced them... Some of the audio books on Ravenloft, were examined by the aforementioned great forumer but they weren't those, while afaik they also are not from the RPGs of SSI, Ravenloft 1 nor 2.. But of course it's not the samples but the perfect atmosphere and music and use of them combined that makes this one of my favorites ever in the genre too, I almost find it nostalgic/relaxing just to listen to it and be transported back in time.. Excellent stuff!! Welcome btw SeigneurGorbag ! Yeah I was wondering too what he used on the album, but a magician never delivers his secrets, that's a part of the magic behind this genre. Thanks, glad to be here ! |
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Post by melandriane on Sept 9, 2022 8:37:15 GMT -5
Discovering Erang + love for the "old school" fantasy stuff like original Fighting Fantasy books, Might and Magic old games...
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Post by wizard on Sept 10, 2022 16:42:54 GMT -5
I heard the name of it somewhere and decided to look it up on youtube. First artist I listened to was Necrocachot. The more I listened to dungeon synth the more I liked it.
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Post by Darkmoon on Sept 26, 2022 20:57:07 GMT -5
Hil! This is my first post on this forum! I finally feel like I've found people like me! Here is how I came to DS... Until the age of 10 I never got hooked on any music until I heard the themes of the horror movies " halloween" and " The Exorcist". It was in the middle of the 80's and I was like bewitched by these musics that I had recorded on cassettes and listened in loop. Then I also played interactive adventure books (by Ian Livingstone & Steve Jackson) and D&D, probably because I liked movies like Dragonslayer (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Clash of the Titans (1981), Krull (1983), Willow (1988), etc. Then (of course I'm from the A2600, ColecoVision, V20, C64, etc. era) I got an Amiga at the end of the 80's (and at the same time I was discovering metal and, like many here, I preferred the instrumental intros of some bands) and there I was flabbergasted by some video games musics, like Shadows Of The beast and Sword Of Sodan, among others. Consequently, I wondered why there were no music bands (except video game creators) that made music like this... ...until one day, after discovering Death and black metal (around 1992), I heard (in a community radio show in my city dedicated to underground metal music) Die verbannten Kinder Evas! Another crush! Finally a band (composed of people from the metal scene) that exploited keyboards. It wasn't dark enough for my taste, but I liked it anyway! A year later, I came across (while visiting a friend) Mortiis and their album Anden Som Gjorde Oppror! Another favorite! Darker than DVKE, a treat, but maybe just a bit too "typical" (black). 2 or 3 years later, Therion's excellent Theli was released (well, there was some guitar, but an opera, it was cool), and the year before I had come across a band that still today almost nobody knows: Decoryah - Wisdom Floats Anyway, I'll stop the musical references here (my tastes are very eclectic), as I could of course share many more, but you can already grasp, even if our backgrounds are all quite different, that they overlap and sound similar! (Mortiis seems to be a common point and a turning point for many of us!). For me, the music I've always imagined and dreamed is a mix of horror movie music, RPG~fantasy video game music, metal music keyboard intro as well as some bands like DVKE and Decoryah, etc. Also, like many others here (although I do computer music and have "quality" sound banks with Kontakt, among others), I prefer the "vintage" sound of synthesizer~ROMpler keyboards from the 90's, early 2000's, like the Korg 01/w, Triton and/or the sounds of the old Roland keyboards~synth sound module (Sound Canvas, XV-5080, SRX). In short, I'm one of those who don't like too cheaps sounds, like those of the old Yamaha PSS synths from the late 80's, but who don't like the too realistic sounds of the current orchestral banks under Kontakt either. What I like best is what was in between in the mid 90s. In short, the orchestral synth sounds that several black (cf. Dimmu Borgir in Mourning Palace) and symphonic metal bands used until the very early 2000s. And, finally, 2 years ago I stumbled upon an article talking about DS and since then I never stop looking for DS tracks (and I love it!)... ...that's why I also found this forum! That's it! Otherwise, personally, I'm working on a musical project. I'm trying to create something a bit different (a more dynamic than DS). Although I love listening DS, as musicians though (guitarist & keyboardist), DS is a bit too "quiet" for me when I play (I need it to move more when I play!). I would call my style "trash neo-sympho-classic synth".  Only string and orchestra sounds played with my YRG (MIDI guitar). But it's not perfected yet. For the moment I'm just creating the basic structures with a basic string sound (cello) and rhythmic. Then I'll have to do the arrangements and add brass, winds, choir, percussion, etc. Here is an example of one of my practices (there are some mistakes, it was just a practice). I'll post in a dedicated thread when I've finished the arrangements. Looking forward to talking! (yes, I use trad a little bit. I'm french Canadien/QC) |
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Post by crystallogic13 on Sept 27, 2022 6:04:29 GMT -5
Welcome Darkmoon (Eye of the Beholder ? ) and all new faces !! As always, very nice to read the personal story of how one discovered the genre and the whole music journey .. I also love how many similar interests are found in the DS fan base, like epic literature/movies, RPGs, Video Games (and CRPGs especially ) etc etc... It almost , after so many years feels magical that some of us were lucky enough to live the loving craze of especially the 80s and early 90s that I think shaped a lot of now has even become popular culture.. Glad to have all of you here people and keep posting, place needs just a little bit of activity.. Other that that in general the genre is a gift for all of us and I feel personally still lucky to be living in the lifetime of so many favorite things that I'm sure we'll be expanded generations after generations (eg. HOW LUCKY WE ALL ARE that we lived the metal era of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Manowar etc etc..)... |
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Post by Darkmoon on Sept 27, 2022 19:23:15 GMT -5
Thx for the welcome crystallogic13!
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Post by Daytol on Sept 29, 2022 0:24:57 GMT -5
I finally feel like I've found people like me! And you're right!  of course I'm from the A2600, ColecoVision, V20, C64, etc. era Awesome. I played on two friends' C64s, those were really good computers. The Atari 2600 is my all-time favorite console. and there I was flabbergasted by some video games musics, like Shadows Of The beast and Sword Of Sodan, among others. I've got several tapes' worth of video game music I recorded with my Sega Genesis days...need to convert to digital... (Also, there's many video game topics in The Basement sub-forums on here...have fun ) Therion's excellent Theli was released I've got Vovin Theli is one of several of theirs I need to get as well. even if our backgrounds are all quite different, that they overlap and sound similar! (Mortiis seems to be a common point and a turning point for many of us!). "Common" for me, as his full-length Fodt til a Herske was my first dungeon synth cd. Got cds from all his side projects too. Welcome aboard! |
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Post by Darkmoon on Sept 29, 2022 19:40:14 GMT -5
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) beloved of the DS genre, I was discussing couple of months back with another member of the forum on these two and specifically about the speech/samples used there, it still is unsolved where he sourced them... Some of the audio books on Ravenloft, were examined by the aforementioned great forumer but they weren't those, while afaik they also are not from the RPGs of SSI, Ravenloft 1 nor 2.. 
Only string and orchestra sounds played with my YRG (MIDI guitar). But it's not perfected yet. For the moment I'm just creating the basic structures with a basic string sound (cello) and rhythmic. Then I'll have to do the arrangements and add brass, winds, choir, percussion, etc.
