Sometimes less is best. Sounds good to me. Nice creepy 80s dungeon vibes
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Me pushing Bowie as a dungeon synth pioneer is a bit of a provocation. I listened to a lot of black metal and dungeon synth but I really hate the purism and politics pushed by some (musicians and audience alike).
The story behind that mayhem track is pretty interesting tough:
The opening track “Silvester Anfang” was provided to the band by German [electronic music] composer [Conrad Schnitzler], after Euronymous found Schnitzler’s home address and sat outside his house until he was eventually invited in.[[4]] Euronymous then asked Schnitzler to compose an intro for the album; rather than record a new composition Schnitzler gave Euronymous a random piece from his archives, which would later become known as “Silvester Anfang”.
That’s a good enough snub to me ^^
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Oh yeah…metal heads are totally PC,right!!!lol.But seriously you caught my interest,been a fan since early 70s and he was located a few miles from me then.Never heard him say anything particularly provocative.And that track is amazing of course.Ok back to the dungeon s……
There’s also (without getting into a genre argument 
) a strand to it of old video game intros like Wizardry, A Bard’s Tale. Think plinky guitar arpeggio over a moody chord.
I like this quote from a review of the album I linked: “Makes me feel like Im 11 again, in front of my friend’s Tandy, taking turns playing some rando d&d game while also perusing an old Fiend Folio we got at a used book store.”
(I am neither a big metal fan nor a D&D player, but that aesthetic)
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Exactly. And it is now partly tied to the OSR TTRPG (Old School Renaissance - Wikipedia) scene which is pushing the aesthetic even further. I mean, look at that glorious layout:
And the associated soundtrack:
I’m still off topic as there’s no digitone involved…
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Kind of off topic as well since this one is OT only but I find this interlude of mine very Dungeon Synth-y.
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If you want to tap into the aesthetic, both Out of Season and Death Saves have phenomenal merch stores.
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Possibly my favourite ‘dungeon theme’ in a videogame has to be Koji Kondo’s castle theme for Super Mario World on the SNES/Super Famicom. The orchestration is utterly sublime - the sweeping arpeggios, the rising tension, the sublime dynamics and the air of menace Kondo-san achieved on the 16 bit hardware while still retaining the relatively cutesy sound palette deeply impressed me after all these years.
Also one of my favourite videogames, Vagrant Story on the PS1, has a gorgeous soundtrack from perhaps my favourite videogame composer, Hiroshi Sakimoto. The theme which plays in the various forges in the game has stuck with me since the late 1990s and is one I can easily listen to on loop for hours on end.
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Probably the closest thing to dungeon synth I’ve done on the M:C… the old MT casiotones that are analog divide down oscillators are especially good for the genre also, the clarinet sound is 
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Actually, the easier thing to do is just use your favorite gear already, record it to tape, as noted, then bury the tape in a public park for a year, dig it out then bounce it out to your favorite internet site.
Just be sure to bury it without the protective case.
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Oh uhhhh hey, I am Desolation Plains. 
lol. Kinda honored, kinda mortified.
Yeah, Digitone is really great for what I’m using it for. Sword of Hailstone was 100% conceived, composed and sequenced on the device. It was me, every morning around 5am curled into a blanked, making an album on a single machine.
Would I do it again? Yeah, probably. I’m sort of onto a more diverse sound at the moment for my next album, but the digitone will still be a prominent component to it, along with a Digitakt and a Grandmother.
DS is pretty nerdy, gotta admit, but it’s definitely a fun little world to craft some sounds.
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Hell yeah diplodocus is really fantastic
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So you have the authority to end this once and for all: is Bowie the true and only dungeon synth pioneer?
But in all seriousness, why mortified? I haven’t listened to the whole album yet, but what I’ve heard is truly impressive. If you have any tips or secrets, please share ^^
It can’t be all the blanket. (I’m eyeing my old smelly blanket with a renewed interest.)
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Is there a list of all the safe artists in the genre? Don’t want to support any nazi shitheads.
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It can’t be possible to list all the safe artists. You can stay clear of burzum, that’s for sure ^^
I think if it’s recent and has a hint of self-awareness, you should be safe. And you already got quite a few to listen to?
For example, the label Heimat Der Katastrophe is self-described as a “punx collective”. So the whole catalogue should be safe.
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lol, there’s a pretty close semblance to it! I threw it in my DS inspiration playlist so I can come back to it.
Oh, I always get a little nervous when people listen; it’s my first release. haha. Really appreciate it, though. It really is a product of me learning the fantastic ins-and-outs of the Digitone and Elektron workflow in whole. Definitely appreciate ya’ll listening!
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It’s a crap shoot. I’ll follow an artist only to find out a few months later that they are national socialists. That happens often. But yeah, really wish there was a single repository of for looking that stuff up.
In the meantime, here are a few labels and artists I trust and can take their recommendations:
Order ov the Black arts has a weekly DS post:
https://www.youtube.com/c/OrderovtheBlackArts
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Just found this to add to the list:
update 12/01/23, another label:
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What are the instruments on your newer albums?
E.g. today’s https://catsofulthar.bandcamp.com/album/cr-ve-c-ur
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Ow, you already spotted it! ^^
It’s still mainly the digitone - I think I used it on every track except for 5th (which is A4 + liven 8bit). The OT is on every track, at the least as a mixer/effect box but there’s some sampling, splicing and a bit of midi sequencing too. The MC makes 2 or 3 appearances for… well, drums. The A4 is on noisy drone duty on the second track and is bitcrushed to hell on the 5th (I’m only beginning to use that one). The liven 8bit is on 5th and 6th (pretty fun and easy to use as a sound source).
edit:
And thank you for your renewed support @johnl , greatly appreciated!
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