/dsg/ - Dungeon Synth General

Comfy latenite coffee edition
old: Share what new music you've discovered recently!

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8eBeGtJ_w
dungeonsynthcompilation.bandcamp.com/
sattvagudhagara.bandcamp.com/album/demoniacal-possession-through-black-meditation-iii
youtube.com/watch?v=Lc75-VAXWu0
youtube.com/watch?v=dH4GwxePsIw
youtube.com/watch?v=rCKL-FAg7mU
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Give me some starters for a normie like me:)

OP(me)'s pic is what I started with. Try it, it sounds a lot like the OG Runescape soundtrack.

burzum, depressive silence, mortiis, solanum, lamentation

Fucking Normies, get out of my dungeon.

Thank you daddys

Are there any dungeon synth compilation albums?

why not dungeon synth party bangers spotify playlists why you're at it?

Trve dungeon dwellers don't go to parties you poser. I just want to hear some nice v/a compilation albums.

so you can bring all your normie friends to your dungeon and smoke dudeweed and get fat goblin hoes twerking over your dick while you show off your chains and your crossbow?

no thanks

I choose to stay celibate in hopes of becoming a wizard one day, so you can keep your goblins wenches.

Spotify isn't THAT bad, I know they don't have the actual best stuff but I do have a Dungeon Synth playlist with over 300 songs and 800 followers on Spotify

YouTube is where it's at nigga.

tapes on a broken cassette player

>listening to obscure black metal using a busted receiver
literally my life as of recently

yea I know, Youtube is great for finding new stuff, but I hate using youtube itself as an actual music player so I never listen to music directly from there other than checking an album out first time. if i like it i look for it on Spotify or Soulseek if it's not there, and just add it to my offline library in Spotify

I use Google Play Music desu, breddy gud for on-the-go.

and ofc I buy the occasional tape too, usually albums that are not on Spotify

I don't have a tape deck atm, and my receiver really is out of commission atm like I said, but I buy most of my DS on Bandcamp, and then upload it to my Google Play Music library.

i had never heard of dungeon synth until this thread and i think im in love

You're not in love until you've listened to Fief II, do it right now

Is there anything even better? Because it's my fave.

in my opinion - no, not that i've found at least. his other stuff is good for sure. My favourite after that one is Forgotten Pathways - Shrouded In Mystery

The >muh kvlt underground club may hate it, but the fact that every single new thread there is newbies asking for recs to get into DS makes me all fuzzy inside.

Dungeon synth isn't supposed to involve great skill. That's not what makes it enjoyable. It's just supposed to be rare, mysterious and quaint.

trend-hopping tourists who think that all you have to do is follow the aesthetics of the genre are wrong.
pseudo-elitist gatekeepers who think it requires skill and talent are wrong.

Older dungeon synth is better because
-it was made by people we know very little about
-it was distributed in small quantities and passed down hand-to-hand
-it has a shitty recording quality, which makes it sound ancient and therefore precious

That's what it means to be "kvlt" and that's the appeal of dungeon synth. It's all about the aura of the recording as an object, and the privilege of knowing about it or owning it. The level of musicianship has to be high enough to suggest that the artist cared about it, but low enough to suggest that he's just some guy in his basement. But that's only one requirement among others. Modern-day dungeon synth on average is just as good as old dungeon-synth, skill-wise, but what makes it a lot harder to enjoy is the fact that it's VERY easy to find, that it has a decently large fanbase and that you can easily get in touch with the guy who made it and know everything about him. It ruins a lot of the mystique. There's still the DIY charm but none of the glamor. Because yes, being some no-name nerd in the 90s who cosplayed as a wizard before LARPing got big and made shitty runequest music in his basement without knowing if anybody else would like it IS glamorous. It's literally a case of "I did it before it was cool", and it's glamorous because it sounds romantic and risky to release music that doesn't have a strong audience, all on your own without giving a shit if someone will like it. And you can't do that anymore. You can't make music that's rare, mysterious and quaint anymore.

It's sad, it's dumb but that's how things are.

Awe.

Everything you said is true. You actually described it all pretty well. I think modern dungeon synth is a completely new wave of the genre. It's like comparing Bathory to Deafheaven, there are similarities, and it kinda falls under the same genre. But it's not the same.

I can't help but feel like half the people who listen to dungeon synth don't have much interest in black metal. It's fairly popular now, but it will probably end up being a trend that kinda fades out. Old dungeon synth will always stay relevant as long as black metal is. There are no modern artists that are characters like Varg or Mortiis, or artists in the same quality as Depressive Silence.

that pic is unreadable asshole

best one in awhile

youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8eBeGtJ_w

b u m p

The ambient parts on this one are fucking beautiful

post what yer blastin'

Every album on here is a compilation:
dungeonsynthcompilation.bandcamp.com/

Nah dude Old Tower is legit awesome, as is everything on voldsom. Real modern masterpieces imo, same with new Elffor (who is old but still makes great stuff). London Bertoch wishes he was a modern Mortiis but he’s just a cranky dad

As a modern DS artist I see a lot of this as true. The majority of what I hear is forgettable and will be buried in the annals of bandcamp in a few short months. This is why I try to take a bold and unique approach. I think you can apply new techniques to create mystique and atmosphere in new ways. For me I like to apply black metal-esque distortion to my keyboard to really give it that raw, blackened feeling. Is it the only way? No. Is it the future? No. But I think modern DS does need to do something special to stand out. I’m not talking about gimmicks and random bullshit, either, it needs to have a rationale and it needs to work. I’m sad that some people think aping Mortiis is the only way to make good DS these days

Did y’all like III

nothing wrong with a gimmick

HOW TO revitalize this genre:
1) new themes: fuck Fantasy and European history, bring Sci-Fi tropes, African myths, Asian tales, modern concepts, TV news memes, etc.
2) new instruments: forget synthesizers, there are other keyboards (eg. organ, accordion, harmonium, chiptune trackers). Plays with gimmicky instruments too: children's instruments (ie. toy piano), flutes-only EP, piano thumb, violin, harmonica, bagpipes, etc.
3) outsider influences: add beats (imagine Outsider House, Burial with medieval feels), use South-East drones or Minimalism techniques (eg. Charlemagne Palestine, Lubomyr Melnyk, Yoshi Wada, Terry Riley tapes).
4) etc.

You can be a creative, obscure DS artist and writing cinematic dark lofi ambient filled with the same obsessions (Nature, despair, History, Mythology, etc) without relying to the same old Metal tropes created 30 years ago.
DS production is lofi but you don't have to reduce your ambitions.

Basically everything you said is wrong
Gimmicks are terrible, no one should aspire to be or take pride in being known for some quirky random shit they throw in there.
It’s fine to be different though. Like Nebulosa includes a bowed psaltery which is unique without being gimmicky. Dungeon noise kinda was a gimmick until it got like actually done properly and diversified a bit, like with Alder Deep

III was quite good, yes

>fuck fantasy ans european history
how about you go suck a thousand cocks?
Shitting on a genre's legacy doesn't revitalize it, it creates a different genre.

>forget synthesizers

okay now you're just bullshitting

Yeah that guy was on some real retard shit right there

>be creative! don't limit yourself!
>But don't you DARE doing what has already been done before!
>let's revitalize dungeon synth!
>But FUCK everything that defines dungeon synth!

gr8b8m8

That's not revitalizing that's doing something completely different from dungeon synth. The genre is doing very well right now anyway it doesn't need revitalizing.

>Sci-Fi tropes, African myths, Asian tales, modern concepts

Kill yourself that's not what dungeon synth is about.

Cut of your hands so you can never do any of the thing you just listed.

ayo ur nerd music is all wack yo u virgins dont kno how to make real music

but dont worry tho ill show u

first u need some chill trap beats insted of marching drum beats

fuck yall midi trumpets what u need is some dope airhorn to make it hype

also u dont kno how to scream right so u can feature my homies lil ghosteboi purrp and xXxpumpgawdxXx they got a cold-ass flow and they scream super loud

also sword sfx are wack u need gunshot sfx insted yo

This guy may be wrong for the most part, but he makes some good points; sci-fi themed DS would be really cool, and using instruments other than synths and keyboards is already something that has been used successfully in DS.

sure but he's not the first guy to bring that up

I'm just sayin, mange.

But seriously, bring on the sci-fi.

(you)

That’s just space ambient isn’t it? Also sci-fi is a shit aesthetic, outside of this noise album based on Eventhorizon that was cool

You're gonna have to tell me about space ambient.

>first u need some chill trap beats insted of marching drum beats
Not DS but White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane would like to have a word with you.

I listened to Secret Stairways' Echantment of the Ring on mdma and it was greay. I feel really thankful for him releasing his album for free online
thank you for introducing me to dungeon synth, /dsg/

shitty pasta/10

obvious bait. at least you got the thread going again,so thanks for that i guess

listen to lots of 90s black metal you poser

Just look it up on rym

any albums in particular? i'm already big on mayhem but maybe that labels me a tourist

essential tolkien inspired ds?

if you're too afraid to step outside of (Dark) Medieval Fantasy & Euro history, here are some ideas to chew on:
- urban fantasy (eg. wizards & goblins hidden in the sewers in some Russian city; Shadowrun stories;
- unusual medieval topics: do u know about the Northern Crusades or the French Cagots? You can also change the point of view (eg. Arab empire; Persian/Ottoman dynasties); more religious-based DS (ie. Foolish Fire)
- I don't understand how modern themes are not more popular: I bet you'd like to hear neo-nazi DS about horrific migrant hoards ramming slavic cities and heroic battles lead by proud white Europeans. Replace goblins and monsters by real humans (jews, leftists, etc). You get the idea.

Synthesizers are a great instruments but you can obtain awesome sounds with a Church organ (or an Harpsichord) and sound FX. Old-school synths or modular synths (the ones used by 1970's Krautrock/Berlin School genres) could be cool; and plenty of DS artists use also Folk instruments.

I didn't say to change everything, just change one element to bring new ideas and open new horizons. That's what artist do.

Actually not bait.
the most interesting DS releases in the last 10 years were the ones with one "gimmick" or challenging ideas (eg. Chaucerian Myths and their ultra-long LPs, rise of the Dungeon Noise sub-genre). I'm optimistic: DS is an interesting genre with a lot of potential but it's still in its infancy. There's place for traditional musicians and more avant-garde ones.

mayhem is kind of tourist-ish yeah.

listen to pretty much everything by Summoning and Burzum, for starters. Still tourist but essential nonetheless.

then go with, let's say, Satyricon, Isengard, Paysage d'Hiver, Tulus, Immortal, Mütiilation, and some early Dark Funeral and Abigor

and the first Behemoth album and Thorns' demos

that's some basic stuff

>I didn't say to change everything
Yes you fucking did.

You said fuck medieval fantasy/history and forget synthesizers and don't go for a lo-fi sound.
THAT'S LITERALLY ALL DUNGEON SYNTH IS ABOUT.

>I bet you'd like to hear neo-nazi DS about horrific migrant hoards ramming slavic cities and heroic battles lead by proud white Europeans. Replace goblins and monsters by real humans (jews, leftists, etc). You get the idea.

No I fucking wouldn't you retarded Sup Forumsfag. I listen to dungeon synth in order to escape the shitty world we live in and immerse myself in fantasy universes. Not to wank my political boner.
>I don't understand
can you understand why The Lord of The Rings doesn't take place in a 1960s British neighborhood?

Besides, orcs and goblins are the good guys in dungeon synth.

I'm grateful because we are free to make the kind of art we want to, whether it be the status quo or not... Create what makes you happy.

Yes, but don't mislabel it

if you make some Outsider House Breakcore about African and Asian myths taking place in modern-day cities with toy pianos and harmonicas and flutes, don't fucking call it dungeon synth.

jej

>I didn't say to change everything

if you are unable to read properly, and fail to see how limited DS can be most of the times, I can't really help you.

muh escapism
Just slap new track titles on DS releases that's all you have to do to bring new emotions to this instrumental genre lmao Lot of DS classics are written in foreign languages that most of us can't understand: they could talk about Harry Potter, MLP, personal themes (depression, cancer, poverty, etc.) and it wouldn't change the sound of these releases.
Even similar autistic genres like Black-Metal have a wider range of themes and sounds while still being BM.

>Autistic genres

You obviously don't get what ds is about.
The APPEAL of the genre is that it conveys a minimalist and crude atmosphere, deeply rooted on D&D and similar rpg's aesthetics.
If i wanted any of the other things you mentioned, i'd just fucking listen to literally any 2experimental ambient world music" bandcamp project.

You clearly don’t even really like dungeon synth if you think it’s limited and autistic

sattvagudhagara.bandcamp.com/album/demoniacal-possession-through-black-meditation-iii

Dungeon Drone, I can get behind that

you sound like a total fucking pussy
"let's thank happy merchants for letting us record our unskillful music in a far dark corner of the Internet on our cheap home computers"
What a fuckng joy to be alive in such a remarkable era.

t. bootlicker

if it wasn't limited, it wouldn't be plagued by amateurish unimaginative copycats

And yet the postmodernish approach of just introducing random foreign elements to an already stablished genre is supossed to be "imaginative"? That's a lazy as shit way of being creative.

quite the contrary, if you didn't get it

pls
the stuff I listed isn't random: it just extends the range of the core elements:
Medieval Fantasy --> all kind of Fantasy
Medieval History --> the whole Human History
Synths --> any kind of keyboards
etc.
Some DS artist already adopted & introduced creative ideas, and I'm pleased with that: I just hope this approach would be more popular, instead of endlessly releasing the same lofi frail melodies about castles, goblins and wizards. made thousands of time.

That’s some faulty logic there. There are copycats in all sorts of genres, that doesn’t mean the genre is in some way flawed, just means a lot of the people who try to make it aren’t that imaginative

t. Bog-Down

No I think there’s a whole litany of new life that can be breathed into the music without changing what it is. Literally can’t be called DS if there’s no damn synth

do you know some slavic ds?

Wojnar, Piorun, Svantevith, Svarograd

thx familia

I'm a Sup Forums newfag but long time black metaler
give the run down on on whos who or just definitie DSG

is it similar to this stuff?
youtube.com/watch?v=Lc75-VAXWu0
youtube.com/watch?v=dH4GwxePsIw
youtube.com/watch?v=rCKL-FAg7mU

Who here likes to play roguelikes while they listen to DS

Yep you’re in the right track. Listen to more Burzum like his prison albums, also listen to early Mortiis stuff. Those two dudes are the most important. After that I’d say Depressive Silence and Lamentation

Hey

no synths required:

>Deathbard - The Old Toy Maker
"samples and sounds from old toys and a gameboy"

8-bit DS:
>Chevalier - Château (chevaliergoedendag on bandcamp)
and Digre , Garvalf
they use nanoloop & trackers.

I fucking love this cover art, i like how badly it is drawn. I don't think I would ever be able to make art like this even if i put in work to try and make it as badly drawn as possible, it just has something about it

Those are debatably not real DS but idk. I guess technically I use mainly a digital piano that I don’t think constitutes a “synth” so I feel like it really just needs to be an electronic keyboard
I love this tape
I think I really was inspired by it when working on the art of pic related

Any DS covers of Elder Scrolls soundtrack?

No shut up normie

>remove dungeon
>remove synth

I don't give a shit about this genre and even I know you are retarded.

I'm actually working on a Dungeon Synth album which revolves entirely around toy pianos, chiptune and bagpipes. It has themes of African Sci-fi combined with TV news and memes, and a constant house beat on every track, I'm about to revitalize this entire genre my dude, gonna be great

someone post the Weezer shit

...

I want to know how this sounds. If someone can play it to me over the phone or something I would be so glad.

will this work fine for ds