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chimeramusic.net |
Tracking lives
Chimera Music is an international group of musicians with roots in the demoscene and the tracker community.
We are dedicated to releasing high-quality music in native module format as well as mp3. Sharing source files is our way of helping
preserve 'bare-bone tracking' in the modern era of the tracking scene.
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Chimera 015: "Bits 'n' Pieces" musicdisk |
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Posted on 10 Nov 2008 by Alpha C |
Chimera Music is proud to present the musicdisk "Bits 'n' Pieces". We've put together 14 tracks composed by Chimera members and several guests, making up for about 50 minutes of chip and chip-inspired music. Code by Alpha C, gfx kindly provided by ko0x/SKE.
The production requires Windows XP or Vista, and .NET 2.0 or higher.
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Chimera 014: Vibe "The E.V.E. Project" |
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Posted on 12 Sep 2008 by Alpha C |
Chimera Music has been buzzing with activity during the last few months, and we're continuing in that vein with another release. Sergey Eybog aka Vibe of Cornercut returns with his second guest appearence under the Chimera label, after having previously released "Nightwork". This time he offers some damn fine chillout muzak, originally intended for an ill-fated diskmag project. Recommended material to put on a loop during a lazy late night!
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Chimera 013: MrGamer "Alone in the Attic" |
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Posted on 25 Aug 2008 by Alpha C |
Andreas Rohdin a.k.a. MrGamer lets his musical talents speak again with a wonderful new single release for Chimera Music. "Alone in the Attic" is a melodic synth song with enough diversity to cater to just about everyone's musical tastes.
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Chimera Music at Evoke 2008 |
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Posted on 12 Aug 2008 by Alpha C |
Alpha C/Chimera Music went visiting the Evoke demoparty (8-10 August) held in Cologne, Germany, and entered a tune in the tiny music (64k) compo. The tune, called "March of the Ants" was done in co-operation with ko0x of Satanic Kids Enterprise and Gravity.
The tune eventually finished 10th in a strong competition with 13 entries in total. Alpha C blames the sound system (or maybe the mixing just kinda sucked :D). File format is .IT, compressed size is 40 kb.
Evoke links:
Evoke website
Releases @ scene.org (FTP)
Demo releases @ pouet
Pictures @ slengpung
Videos @ demoscene.tv
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Chimera 012: Rayko "History" |
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Posted on 27 Jul 2008 by Alpha C |
Chimera Music is happy to present Rayko's first solo pack, called "History". Four tracks, not only featuring the synth/dark ambient sound that Rayko made his own, but we also get to hear influences from oldstyle game and demo music.
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Chimera 011: John Marwin "Happy Fucking Birthday" |
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Posted on 08 Jul 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
John Marwin reporting in for his second release through the Chimera Music modmusic label! "Tale of the Grazing Panzerwagen" was one of the more memorable tracks on our pack "Stratosphere" due to its unique style and experimental spirit. That spirit is found throughout John's discography, and this release is no exception. Composing "Happy Fucking Birthday" was John's means to take out frustration and bitterness when when life wasn't easy.
A more personal song description can be found in the Renoise source file, or in the MP3's ID3v2 tags.
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Comment system operational again |
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Posted on 02 Jul 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
On the Releases page, we've recently identified a bug with the comment system that went unnoticed/unreported for a while. Upon addition of a new comment, a MySQL error was thrown and the comment discarded. This has now been fixed. So, let's hear from you! :)
(Special thanks to MrGamer for the bug report.)
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Chimera 010: Vibe "Nightwork" |
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Posted on 08 Jun 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera's tenth release is a special one, not only because of the significance of the number, but also because we're putting out our first guest-release.
Sergey Eybog a.k.a. Vibe of Cornercut has cooked up a short tune, somewhere between trance and ambient; atmopsheric but with a light mood. For more of Vibe's work, check out his website at http://www.lesser-vibes.com/.
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Chimera RSS feed |
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Posted on 06 Jun 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music now offers an RSS feed!
The URL is: http://www.chimeramusic.net/news_rss.php
If you're the type of person that keeps on top of things using an RSS reader, do subscribe. If you're maintaining a website or blog, feel free to include it.
The feed contains all the news items which are also found on this very webpage, including release announcements, compo results, news about our musicians, ongoing projects, and more!
The feed is still rather basic, but improvements will follow in due time.
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Chimera 009: MrGamer "spcnvdrs2k3" |
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Posted on 27 Apr 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
MrGamer (Andreas Rohdin) releases his second solo pack for Chimera Music. As with the excellent "Golden Pack" (#004) released almost a year ago, it's a collection of older FastTracker II modules; this time being the complete soundtrack of a game that sadly never came to be.
Around 2003 Andreas hooked up with a local group called Vision Dreams, who were in the business of creating a 2D shooter inspired on the classic Space Invaders. Even though it was supposed to be a "modern" production in many aspects, it was to be fitted with a delicious oldstyle soundtrack. The project was never completed, and over the course of years some of the tunes made their way to the Internet. This release is the first to present the complete work.
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Chimera 008: "Winter Chip III" |
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Posted on 24 Mar 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music is proud to present their first proper musicdisk, featuring our entries to battleofthebits.org's "Winter Chip III" compo. Participants for Chimera Music were Okeanos and MrGamer, entering five tunes between them. We believe that our participation has resulted into a fine collection of fresh chipmusic.
The collection is offered, as usual, in the form of MP3 and source file packs, however, Alpha Centauri/Chimera has done his best to create a nice GUI. See the "Releases" page for more details.
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Solid score for chimera! |
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Posted on 20 Mar 2008 by MrGamer |
Good scores for Chimera musicians on Battle of the Bits - Winter Chip Compo ]|[!
As any of you who have visited BotB probably know by now, is that the rating system there is rather wacky... But still, I will enter some of it here and you can make sense of it if you fancy doing so! :)
MrGamer (me) entered with the tune named Trisinosapuno (Renoise) in the "wild category" finishing with Silver (second) in the voting option "Wait I think I'm Dreaming" with a score of 5.944pts there...
Here is a more detailed(?) description of how my tune fared.
Trisinosapuno got 2:Nd on "Wait I think I'm Dreaming", 12:Th on "Blizzardation", 19:Th on "pro n00b wankery", 30:Th on "Capitalist Free Market Excitement" and also 30:Th on "HELP! I LOST MY PANTS!!" ending with 24.901pts overall and landing at a good 13:Th place out of 89 tunes submitted!
But Chimera is not content with only one single little entry by one Chimeran!
So here I present our very own, multi-talented Chimera musician and good friend from France! Okeanos! Okeanos entered BotB - Winter Chip Compo ]|[ with a whopping FOUR tunes in as many categories! Kudos for that!
They all scored well in their respective categories, the category is written in italic and the scores follows...
CPU Extermination (NES) at 4:th place, Crapoto basta fuit! (8k module) at 4:Th place, Yu-Fight (28K Module) at 6:Th place, and to top it all off = getting GOLD in the MIDI-category with the awesome tune Destinée!
Giving a description of all the BotB voting options and scores of those tunes either would take up to much space and to much of my brain power! So we have to "settle" that Okeanos got an overall score of 24.425pts with the tune CPU Extermination (NES) landing him on a respectable place of 19!!
Congratulations Oliver!
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Okay, the whole story in short...
Okeanos with "CPU Extermination" (NES) 24.425pts @ 19:Th place
MrGamer with "Trisinosapuno" (Renoise/Wild category) 24.901pts @ 13:Th place
Then that's done! A respectable score for Chimera Music!
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Visit BotB and check the final scores!
Expect all of the compo tunes to be available on our release page very soon!
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Chimera 007: "Stratosphere" |
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Posted on 09 Feb 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera's first year anniversary is approaching. Almost one year ago we released our inaugural pack, "Unleashing the Chimera", a diverse compilation of tunes by our musicians. So it's high time for another group-wide collaboration, again featuring diverse high-quality material. We are happy to present you "Stratosphere"! Featuring material in various styles by Okeanos, MrGamer, Alpha Centauri, JvK, John Marwin, and Rayko.
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Chimera doing game soundtrack |
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Posted on 25 Jan 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music is currently working with independent game developer Louis Lavallée on the freeware game Total Carnage. This is a 2D shooter inspired on Geometry Wars (XBox), and we will produce the soundtrack. You can download a preview here.
Although a final release is still a good while away, a project website will be set up within the near future. It will keep you informed about progress, offering in-progress playable demos and music previews!
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Chimera getting into game music |
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Posted on 22 Jan 2008 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music now offers its services to developers of freeware games/software in need of music for their product! We will do it for free, providing that our schedules aren't too overloaded and we are convinced of the quality of the end product. For more information, check out the dedicated web page.
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Best wishes from Chimera! |
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Posted on 25 Dec 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Christmas has arrived and the year 2007 is drawing to a close. The staff and musicians of Chimera Music wish our listeners a merry Christmas and the best for 2008! We intend to keep delivering quality module music; and we hope you will continue supporting us by listening!
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Chimera 006: MrGamer & Alpha Centauri "Moonshine" |
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Posted on 22 Nov 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
After a months-long silence (due to real life, writer's block, and other good excuses like that), Chimera Music returns with a release by MrGamer and Alpha Centauri, the first of hopefully more co-ops. The result of the collaboration is the atmospheric track "Moonshine". Expect lush synth pads and a driving drumtrack.
"Moonshine" was originally started by MrGamer way back in 2000, long before Chimera Music entered the scene, and even before the two musicians actually met. For years to come, the song resided on Andreas' harddisk, pretty much sketched out but unfit for release. Not until early summer of 2007 was it resurrected by Alpha Centauri, who undertook the task of rearranging, remastering and just generally whipping it into shape. We hope you will enjoy the result!
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John Marwin joins Chimera |
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Posted on 18 Nov 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Join us in welcoming John Marwin as a new Chimera musician! John, age 28, hails from Sweden and has a variety of styles up his sleeve, ranging from moody ambient all the way to distorted speedcore and wildly experimental electronica. This and his original take on music, not to mention the sheer quality of it, will make him an excellent addition to the group.
So welcome John, enjoy your stay with us, and bring it on! :)
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Renoise 1.9 released |
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Posted on 17 Nov 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Renoise, the excellent feature-packed tracker that has quickly risen to become a new favourite in the tracking scene, has now arrived at version 1.9. By the count of the development team, RNS 1.9 incorporates 11 new functions, 33 upgrades, 18 fixes, and 5 changes. Read all about them in the Release Notes.
The new version can be purchased for €49.99 (excluding VAT). It is also available as a download for registered users, or try the demo version.
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Chimera is recruiting! |
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Posted on 28 Oct 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Things have significantly slowed down at Chimera. Although I can assure everyone we're still alive, it's just becoming obvious that the combined creativity of the current five members is not enough to provide a steady stream of quality tunage. :)
Hence we're inviting fellow tracker musicians to hook up with us! Yes, we could use a few additional members. We have no limitations on style or anything; it's quality that counts.
What do we expect from new Chimera members? Well, we don't have a "release quotum" or anything -- release when you can, but when inspiration is letting you down, we won't be nagging you about new tunes. We do expect a positive attitude to the group. Chimera is about music, but also about fun. We're musicians with a common goal -- to provide quality modmusic to our audience -- but we also enjoy each other's online company.
Furthermore, there's the possibility of guest-releasing. One single release under the Chimera label, no strings attached (i.e. no further obligations).
If you're interested in releasing your module music through Chimera (either as a full member, or by doing a guest release), contact group organizer Alpha Centauri: marcelvwijk(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
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Modules.pl freestyle compo |
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Posted on 22 Oct 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Voting has closed, and the results have now been unleashed onto the tracking scene. Chimera musicians Rayko and Okeanos participated, with the former scoring 2nd place with "Voltage Controlled Mind", narrowly missing victory by just one point! Okeanos got 9th with his composition "Ridoka".
Follow the link to modules.pl below to view the complete results. Of course we will post links to Rayko's and Okeanos' compo tunes once those links are available!
In the meanwhile, we can assure that Chimera is not dead yet! We have been silent for a while due to creative crisis, real life, and other good reasons like that. But there's definitely fresh music in the pipeline -- so stay tuned!
Update 26 Oct 2007: Download links!
Rayko - "Voltage Controlled Mind" (.rns)
Okeanos - "Ridoka" (.it)
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Compo victories for Okeanos/Chimera |
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Posted on 30 Jul 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera musician Okeanos has managed to snatch two wins in recent tracking compos. His tune "Little Floove" was voted best in Dect Compo 2, while "Talking to Spirits" emerged victorious in ExChip0 (category 32kb). Both tunes can be found on Okeanos' chipdisk "Whispers", released as Chimera 005 (release page). A third tune from "Whispers", "Brave New World", took 8th in BCC8.
Congratulations, Olivier!
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Streaming audio! |
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Posted on 14 Jul 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music has deployed a beta version of a streaming audio service, enabling you to listen Chimera releases from your web browser! It uses the Windows Media Player as an object in the webpage, meaning that we can only serve the Windows platform (and Mac for those who have WMP installed), for now.
As said, the feature is still in beta. The page is a little unfinished and cross-browser compatibility is not yet guaranteed. As of now IE7 is the only browser platform that has been verified to work under most circumstances. We'll continue working to bring you streaming audio on as much OS/browser platforms as possible!
Also, expect bonus material from our artists to be streamed here in the near future! Use the link below to begin the experience :).
Update 20 July 2007: The streaming service now also works using the Firefox and Safari browsers. Some bonus material has been added. Nevertheless some secondary issues still need to be resolved. Please report any problems to us: use the contact form to get in touch with site maintainer Alpha Centauri.
Update 30 July 2007: Problems have been reported using the streaming service with Internet Explorer. A third beta is in the works and is hoped to eliminate this issue. In the meanwhile, yet more bonus material has been made available.
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ChibiTracker 1.0 released |
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Posted on 11 Jul 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
This nice attempt at an Impulse Tracker clone has finally left the beta status! From the official website (http://www.chibitracker.com/):
ChibiTracker is a portable IT (Impulse Tracker) clone. It is not a 100% clone though, as it adds more features, such as chorus and reverb, stereo samples, an advanced sample editor and more. The user interface also presents some changes, as it can be custom themed and resized.
ChibiTracker is Open Source Software under the GNU Public License, and it can be run under Windows, Mac-OS, Linux, FreeBSD, BeOS, and more to come.
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Chimera 005: Okeanos "Whispers" |
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Posted on 12 Jun 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
This time Chimera Music brings you a high quality pack filled to the brim with excellent chip music by Okeanos (Olivier Degand), for all of you to explore and enjoy. All tunes were originally made for different compos, of which the highest scoring tune took 3rd place (modules.pl 4ch compo).
More than most of Olivier's other work does "Whispers" demonstrate his skill with making the most out of very tight rules and size regulations. Not one tune in this "typically Okeanos" chip pack is over 32kb! Also, what makes this even more special is that when this pack was released it was also his birthday! (12th June).
A big hooray to him from Chimera and the tracking scene!
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Modules.pl compo: Chimera musicians perform well |
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Posted on 28 May 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Modules.pl recently organized a tracking compo with the condition that only one sample/instrument could be used. Chimera musicians Okeanos and Rayko participated (with MrGamer missing the deadline due to him switching ISPs), and took 3rd and 4th place, respectively. The compo was won by Xtense.
Another great performance by Chimera musicians, after the chip compo last December where Rayko took 1st, and Okeanos 3rd place!
Here are the download links for Rayko's and Okeanos' One Sample Compo entries:
Okeanos - De Profundis
Rayko - The Voice of the Chips
(The results of this compo have been released for over a week now, so this news post was long overdue!) :)
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Chimera 004: MrGamer "Golden Pack" |
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Posted on 16 May 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Andreas Rohdin a.k.a. MrGamer went digging in his archive of unreleased .XMs and came back with nine top-notch modules. Being prolific as he is, it's somewhat odd that these tunes never saw the daylight before... but we're all the more glad for it, because Chimera Music can now offer you an excellent compilation covering a variety of styles. From calm & beautiful ambient, through his quintessential chip/gamestyle-inspired stuff, all the way to bouncing dance music -- and all with MrGamer's distinctive touch. Thirty-five minutes of music, as usual offered both in module and MP3 format!
For more information on the individual songs, check out the enclosed text file golden_pack_nfo.txt where Andreas goes into greater depth and adds a few personal notes as well.
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Chimera 003: Alpha Centauri "z2" |
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Posted on 30 Apr 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Z2 is a combination of minimalistic ambient soundscapes with slightly experimental techno-styled drum patterns. A 'beta' version of this track was previously released through modscene portal modulez.org, and received enthusiastically. The track has now been made ready for its definitive release.
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Bringing you the modulez.org feed |
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Posted on 31 Mar 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
We have included the modulez.org RSS feed to our website -- check the sidebar for the latest five news topics! Hover your mouse pointer over the items to see a brief summary at your tooltip.
Chimera Music owes its existence in no small part to the modulez.org community site. The group was born on the forum of modulez.org, and is also the place where the five of us met. This excellent site for the tracking scene deserves wide recognition. Consider this little new feature a modest payback :).
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Technical problems solved |
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Posted on 17 Mar 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
After two days of reduced functionality, or being unavailable at all, the website's Releases page is back in full force. Large chunks of code have been rewritten, and leaving comments about releases is possible again. The code behind that feature is now believed to be more robust, and the comments themselves are now stored in and read from a MySQL database (instead of being filesystem-based). All old comments have been restored. So let's hear from you soon!
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Chimera 002: JvK "Dreamer/Simplicity" |
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Posted on 15 Mar 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Jonathan von Kelaita (JvK) made an impression with his chip-guitar contribution to Chimera's inaugural musicpack. Now our man from Down Under has the honour of having Chimera's first solo release -- and he hits with an equally impressive effort. Two chiptunes, both remarkable in their own right, just 61kb.
Starting off with "Dreamer", a chiptune-sized piece of laidback jazz/funk. Simple, short, but definitely very pleasant. A really nice song to loop in the background during lazy late nights.
The second tune, "Simplicity" is all the more remarkable because it really stretches the limit of how small one can make a module. Pulling all his tricks from his sleeve, Jonathan manages to squeeze a beautiful ambient tune into only 4k! Impressive, both technically and musically!
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New website feature |
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Posted on 24 Feb 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
A new feature has been added to the releases page: you can now easily leave your comments with every single Chimera release. The feature is not entirely bug-free yet and doesn't look too pretty as of yet, but it works, and commenting is quick.
So don't hesitate to post your comments! Of course you can also share your feedback through the contact page, or on our brand-spanking-new forum (forums.chimeramusic.net)!
Update 25 Feb: bugfix.
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Forums are opened! |
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Posted on 18 Feb 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
The Chimera forums are now opened. Share your feedback on Chimera productions, talk to our musicians, or just chat about the music/demo scene in general.
See you there!
(Update 24 Feb 2007: you can now use the URL forums.chimeramusic.net as a shortcut!)
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Chimera 001: Unleashing the Chimera |
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Posted on 16 Feb 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
Chimera Music is launched with the release of the musicpack "Unleashing the Chimera". Five tracker musicians, five tunes, available in native tracked format (IT, S3M and RNS), and MP3.
First one is Rayko's (Matias Ezequiel) "Memories", a prime example of his trademark style: atmospheric and melodic synth music with elements from traditional demo music. Rayko recently claimed victory in the modules.pl chip compo and boldly continues to demonstrate his talents. (IT)
Group founder Alpha Centauri (Marcel van Wijk) then takes command by unleashing an exclusive Chimera edition of his 2004 housetrack "Return to Agena". Dynamic and variable. (IT)
Next we're going to kick it oldskool with Okeanos (Olivier Degand). Olivier is a professional game musician and has applied his touch to the theme of "Onslaught" -- originally composed by Kim Christensen for Maniacs of Noise in 1989. A skillful piece of demomusic with ambient overtones. Relive the 8-bit era. (IT)
Guitars in a chiptune? JvK (Jonathan von Kelaita) proves that this slightly bizarre combination is not only possible, but can also produce quite stunning results. Wild solos and a whole lot of attitude packed in just 56kb! (S3M)
We come to a close with another healthy dose of chip tunage. Andreas Rohdin (MrGamer) has written Retarded Chip -- a definite misnomer for 4+ minutes of intense melodic joy with influences ranging from C64/Amiga-era game & demo music and 1990s dance music. (RNS)
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Introducing Chimera Music |
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Posted on 16 Feb 2007 by Alpha Centauri |
With the website on-air and the formation phase to an end, Chimera Music is now officially established! We are a music group dedicated to releasing quality module music. We currently consist of five musicians, spread all over the globe. Check out our first release, the music pack "Unleashing the Chimera", and get acquainted with the group and its people by using the link below.
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This website and its content is Copyright ©2007 by Chimera Music, All Rights Reserved. |