Acid trance is a genre of

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minut ...

that emerged in the early 1990s focusing on using the acid sound. The trademark sound of "acid" is produced with a Roland

TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

by playing a sequenced melody while altering the instrument's filter cutoff frequency, resonance, envelope modulation, and accent controls. This real-time tone adjustment was not part of the instrument's original intended operation. Acid trance is the best known form of trance music in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The form was first showcased at the popular Antwerp Rave 24 in Belgium, and has created four national number one singles in the country since. Acid trance may be considered a descendant of acid house, since the genre of trance had not yet been invented during the advent of acid house (or acidhouse). The first volumes of Trancemaster compilations contains a few tracks in acid trance style, just as

classic trance Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ...

tracks. The difference is, while acid trance tracks focus more on the changing TB-303 lines, classic trance (e.g.

Dance 2 Trance Dance 2 Trance were a German techno duo composed of Rolf Ellmer and DJ Dag Lerner. They had a small number of hit singles in the mid-1990s and were associated with Jam & Spoon. History Musical career DJ Dag and Jam El Mar met in 1990, when th ...

Cosmic Baby Cosmic commonly refers to: * The cosmos, a concept of the universe Cosmic may also refer to: Media * Cosmic (album), ''Cosmic'' (album), an album by Bazzi * Afro/Cosmic music * "Cosmic", a song by Kylie Minogue from the album ''X (Kylie Minog ...

, Age of Love, and

Jam & Spoon Jam & Spoon were a German electronic music duo formed in 1991 in Frankfurt. The group consisted of composers and producers Rolf Ellmer (a.k.a. Jam El Mar, classically trained composer) and Markus Löffel (a.k.a. Mark Spoon, DJ). They also worke ...

) tracks are more atmospheric, they use "softer" synth-lines, often strings and other ambient music elements. The line between these two styles is quite blurred; they also emerged about the same time. Acid Trance artists are often grouped with their classical and Goa counterparts. It is not uncommon to see many of the first Acid Trance artists featured on Goa Trance compilation albums. However, some of these artists never considered themselves part of the

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

or Psychedelic scene and these compilation albums were often done by their record labels who published Acid Trance alongside Goa artists.

Notable labels

* Attack Records *

Harthouse Harthouse is a German record label specializing in techno music. The company was founded by Sven Väth in the early 1990s as a sublabel of Eye Q Records with the divisions Harthouse Frankfurt, Harthouse UK and Harthouse America. In the begin ...

Le Petit Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and ...

Moonshine Music Moonshine Music was an electronic music record label founded by Steve Levy and Ricardo Vinas, in Los Angeles in 1992, and later headquartered in West Hollywood, California. Moonshine released over 250 compilations albums, many of which were DJ mixe ...

Platipus Records Platipus Records was a British trance music record label that was based in London, England. It was founded in 1993 by Simon Berry, and early releases included Union Jack and Art of Trance. Later, the label included artists like Dawnseekers a ...

* Rising High Records

References

https://bandcamp.com/tag/acid-trance 20th-century music genres Psychedelic music Trance genres {{music-genre-stub