DM Ashura


William "Bill" James Robert Shillito, more commonly known as DM Ashura, is an electronic music remixer, producer, and composer whose work can be found in the music games O2Jam, Dance Dance Revolution, beatmania IIDX, StepMania, Flash Flash Revolution, and Pump it Up.

Biography

DM Ashura lived in Queens for eight years and now resides in Atlanta, Georgia. He started playing piano at the age of two and composing around age eight. He also has played viola since age 12.
He graduated from Georgia Tech in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in international affairs and Japanese; he also speaks Spanish. He started teaching math in 2009 and was working towards a master's degree in Teaching. He has published a YouTube series, "Introduction to Higher Mathematics", and has collaborated on an animated TED video on matrix operations. He is currently a Mathematics Instructor at Oglethorpe University, and has been since 2020.
He creates his music under the name DM Ashura; the "DM" stands for Digital Maestro, while "Ashura" is Japanese for "fighting demon". He has made a number of remixes, particularly "neoMAX", which won first place in Tournamix 4, a DDR stepfile-writing contest. He has also since written a number of original tracks, and is well known in the music game community for his work.

Work in games

DM Ashura's music has recently been licensed for a number of music games:
Tracks in O2Jam :
  • "Euphorium"
  • "GO!"
  • "Astral"
All three of these songs can be found on the Malaysian server. "GO!" can be found on the Japanese server as well.
Tracks in Flash Flash Revolution:
Tracks in Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 4
  • "GO!"
  • "Celebrate Nite"
Tracks in Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3
  • "Your Angel"
  • "Rave Until The Night Is Over"
  • "ΔMAX"
  • "aftershock!!"
Tracks in Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress
  • "neogenesis"
Tracks in Pump It Up Pro 2
  • "Allegro Con Fuoco"
  • "Chaotic White "
  • "GO!"
  • "Rave Until The Night Is Over"
  • "Rave Until The Night Is Over"
  • "X-RaVE"
  • "Z -The New Legend-"
Tracks in Pump It Up Fiesta EX
  • "Rave Until The Night Is Over"
  • "Allegro Con Fuoco"
  • "X-RaVE"
Tracks in Pump It Up Infinity
  • "Elise"
  • "Ignis Fatuus"
  • "Fallen Angel"
  • "Euphorium"
  • "Z -The New Legend"
  • "Pi Rho Maniac"
Tracks in Pump It Up Prime
  • "Allegro Piu Mosso"
  • "Annihilator Method"
  • "Move That Body!"
Tracks in Pump It Up Prime 2
  • "Allegro Furioso"
Tracks in Pump It Up XX
  • "Kimchi Fingers"
  • "Orbit Stabilizer"
DM Ashura first got his tracks into DDR when he won Konami's music competition on Broadjam.com. His song "GO!" was selected among around 300 other entries. The other three winners were "Grandolin" by Zerofuser, "Race Against Time" by Jeff Steinman, and "There's a Rhythm" by Dig Bear featuring Kat Blu.

Discography

DM Ashura's first album, Digital Maestro, was released in May 2007 at Anime Central. Two of the tracks, "Snowblind" and "Nautilus", feature guitarist Ricky Graham.
"Celebrate Nite " is on Konami's Ultramix 4 V-Rare 11, and the "Cusimo & Co. Extended Mix" is on the Supernova/Ultramix 4 Combo V-Rare 10.