auryn

agree 100 %

ProSect, I just feel exactly the same way as your original post. very nicely put. I had this friend too, and sick is what she is. remember when psytrance was friendly and nice to listen to and well arranged and inspired? not just an endless barrage of noise blasts and bass slammed into a limiter with breaks thrown in every 16 bars so you don't actually get into a trance at all? Those rave/club inspired dancefloor teasing tricks don't seem to actually work you toward a state of hypnosis do they? psy producers really need to think about the music they want to produce. Don't start a track thinking "hey, I'm gonna make a psy track... okay, what does a psy track need? uhm, a bassline that goes daggadadaggadadaggada. and squelchy noises too. and a big break. oh, and a sample from some spacey movie." Instead try to tell the story you want to tell, use the elements you want to use. What do you want the track to do? What function does a sound have? Try to avoid randomly throwing in drops, breaks, squelches - people can tell you're just randomly doing stuff and lose interest (unless they're really high, in which case they'll dance to anything) The quality of classic tracks by koxbox, hallucinogen, astral etc etc etc is mostly in the arrangement - the tracks tell a story. Most modern tracks focus on one "massive/killar" riff or sound introduced somewhere in the track, the rest is mostly random breaks zaps and squelches. That just sounds like lazy arrangement to me. Come on psy producers, get your act together. Think outside the box.

Hi in reason it´s possible. I don´t know any vst samplers myself, but I´m sure they can do it as well. First, you need to switch the polyphony to 1 (otherwise your you can play several different notes at a time, thus you can't slide from one note to the next) then you need to turn up the `portamento` knob/slider - the higher the value the longer it takes for one note to `slide´ to the next note you´re playing. good luck.

well, I'd say beatless ambient is really the only kind of ambient music in the true sense of the word. It is music that (when done right) requires no conscious attention, but subtely chances your mood and soothes your feelings nonetheless. It's simply a direct communication of soothing feelings between the artist and you - no cultural barriers, just pure feeling. I like the simplicity of it, just one state of mind that is communicated in aesthetically beautiful perfection. The repetition you mention has a function: it subtely puts you in a trance and opens your mind to the kind of feelings that are being communicated. Compare it to sphongle: shpongle is all over the place musically (especially 2nd and 3rd albums), very restless music. It requires your constant attention; you have to follow the story, if you don't the listening experience will very schizophrenic. If you don't understand that the music is supposed to be psy-ambient style tripping music, you probably won't even be able to understand what to make of it at all. (again, this is mostly the 2nd and 3rd album, the first album really eases you into it...) Also, shpongle and lots of other psy ambient artists use freaky and squelchy sounds that I find ugly and grating. In beatless ambient tracks like those on the Kompakt label there are no ugly or grating sounds, just smooth washes of synths. Which makes it more true ambient, IMHO. I think the freaky voice-manipulating effect that is used constantly on the 3rd shpongle album is an especially good example of an effect that is annoying and certainly not pleasurable to listen to, and seems to be there just for the sake of it. okay rant over! beatless ambient tip: Markus Guentner - In Moll (Kompakt)

If you want it experimental, with advanced sound processing techniques yet beautiful melodies, try the following records : Fennesz - Venice (label = mego) Markus Guentner - In Moll (label = kompakt) Klimek - Milk & Honey (label - kompakt) if you're looking for a change to the standard psy/chill/dub/ethno stuff I cannot recommend it more!

well bony incus is also good but it doesn't have the funk factor which is what I love so much about Gold Dust... but I love eat static too so no point arguing.

IMHO the very best climax in psytrance belongs to MMM... Gold Dust, last minute or so. Complete acid phonq freakout!!! I vividly remember playing that track at a party once and looking into the crowd when the climax hit and I saw one guy dancing so energetically he seemed to be suspended 2 feet above the dancefloor. no matter what you say about their other offerings that track is just sooooo good it blows the complete works of alien project etc. out of the water in a single stroke.

thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'll check em out!

Hi Psy People I was listening to this obscure compilation I bought on vinyl a few years ago. It's called "Scrambled Heads" on the label Spastic Elastic. I really love the vibe on that compilation, and I was wondering if something similar has been released in the last years... (I haven't been following the psy genre very well for a while now) the style of this album is quite hard to describe, but perhaps some people here will know it and can help me out? thanks!

hey deathposture, I'm pretty sure the sample says "the carthographers of the universe... their maps, their star-charts, how far does it go? " etc I'm pretty sure it's that german wacko scientist dude Erich von Daniken talking about his theories I liked the track too, by the way

red status on Koxbox is deserved IMHO, but their best work is not on an album. Tracks like Too Pure, Life Is, and especially Dreampod are just a notch better than the stuff on Dragon Tales and Forever After. I would like to see Double Dragon - Continuum added as a super classic, and Quirk - Machina Electrica... too. And now that I think of it, Tristan's debut Audiodrome should be revered in the halls of cosmic excellence as well. stuff that never did it for me, though it is regarded as classic: mostly over-melodic stuff. I like psy to be trippy, sparse and brain-teasing... not over the top victorious! Pleiadians - IFO, Etnica - juggling alchemists, Astral Projection - Astral Files (dancing galaxy is much better, but even that is too much glory for one session!)

to me the essence of cheesy is when you know what they (the artist(s)) are trying to do, but you're not buying it because it's too obvious. in trance this usually applies to melodic "emotional" climaxes for me

son kite - "back beyond rotation" from their first album "minilogue" my fav, deep and hypnotic, not as clubby as their later stuff

Mike Ink's "Gas" project is my ambient favourite (try the album "Pop" for a really nice soothing ride). He currently owns his own techno label in Cologne, called Kompakt records. Each year around x-mas they release a compilation of nice beatless ambient tracks, called "pop ambient", the most recent (just released) is "pop ambient 2005". Amazing, beautiful, yet also very intimate and emotional. Alex Paterson (The Orb) is a great fan of their releases, so if you don't take my word for it, take his! Since I discovered this stuff I almost never listen to psy-ambient anymore. Oh, and you can get it on vinyl too!

there is some very good advice here already, but i'd like to add that you can just reduce the crispy sound by lowpassing the sounds that you want to sound warmer. the problem is that reason's low pass filter isn't very warm or deep sounding, and it takes away a lot of definition. you might want to try using some external filter (like the one in korg's legacy ms-20). good luck!

well, to me cheesy just means how much music relies on gimmicky sounds, movie samples, well-known melodies/chord changes, and predictable breaks and climaxes. so let's say fractal glider is cheesier than double dragon, double dragon is cheesier than midimiliz, which isn't cheesy at all, but might be called "boring" or "monotonous" by some... so cheesy isn't necessarily bad, when it is done with some sense of style and humour it can be nice. the problem with Yahel is he takes himself very seriously while his music is blatantly cheesy. (which is why I also dislike I.M.)

Personally I loved Digital Mandala - it's slightly cheesy, but because it doesn't really take itself too seriously it's all good. It's the only really good and diverse full on LP I own. It really has a unique sound to his tracks too, a bit lofi but very energetic and fun. His first album didn't do too much for me though. Gonna check out re-hashed for sure. Pity they don't press vinyl lp's anymore though! To Basilisk - you really sold digital mandala Scott? damn... I had to beg Matt Boom to release that on vinyl at all! ;-)

shiva chandra - essence (spirit zone, 1998) perhaps what you're looking for?

yeah, great remix by synthetic, but godaweful pressing! sounds like 8 bit samples... get your act together twisted!