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Beatless Ambient...for what reason?


Trance2MoveU

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I'm listening to Numina- Transparent Planet and while it is beautiful with spacious, floating pads I'm wondering why. Is it's sole purpose to b a soundtrack when going to sleep? It's hard to listen to as I find myself losing focus, trying to follow the melody. With droning pads it just seems so ponderously slow. With no beats to ground me, I feel like a balloon that is being carried away by the wind.

 

Does anyone enjoy this other than at night?

 

Mdk

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I'm picky when it comes to beatless but the good stuff can really slow down time at will to make this droning sound perfectly intelligible music, if you give it the chance. I can't think of a better way to describe it.

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That's a good way to put it. As I delve farther into the album, there is more than just spacey pads that go on for 32 measures, and that helps. But, slowing down time is very applicable. I have never heard music that typifies what it must be like to be adrift in space.

 

Mdk

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Beatless is my favorite kind of ambient.

But the only way to appreciate it is to fully focus on it.

Unlike dance, downtempo or ambient with a beat beatless music can only be understand when you do nothing else than listening to it.

 

I used to dislike beatless ambient cause I couldn't find any purpose in it. Then while trying to find a good cure against insomnia I put some beatless ambient in my discman.

Then I undersood. Lying on my bed, doing nothing but listening to music beatless ambient took me away and like qa2pir said it slowed the time.

 

Try it!

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Well ambient is supposed to be as engaging as it is ignorable right? That means you can put it on lose focus & not notice any of the music. It really needs to the right circumstances but once you get into the genre these circumstances become easy to come by and more circumstances than before are right for the music. When I first stareted listening to ambient I had to sit fully focused to enjoy it (still the best way) but now I can enjoy it while reading, walking about, on the train etc. It's not an easy genre to like but I think if you can get into the rewards are top notch :ph34r:

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Well ambient is supposed to be as engaging as it is ignorable right? That means you can put it on lose focus & not notice any of the music. It really needs to the right circumstances but once you get into the genre these circumstances become easy to come by and more circumstances than before are right for the music. When I first stareted listening to ambient I had to sit fully focused to enjoy it (still the best way) but now I can enjoy it while reading, walking about, on the train etc. It's not an easy genre to like but I think if you can get into the rewards are top notch :ph34r:

 

+1 I love beatless ambient when I'm on the move (especially trains :rolleyes:).

 

I have been listening to beatless ambient (well not continuously of course) since I was a little kid, so I might be bias, but I really can't find better music for accomplishing inner focus (or light meditative state if you want), so for me it definitely has a purpose... and this I feel is something else compared to when I listen to "beat/rhythm-music". So it is perfect for work as well, in case I need to focus. If I'm falling a sleep (while working) upbeat music might be better though :P

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I like the idea of ambient music. Like when sitting in a planetarium and looking at a ceiling of stars before the presentation begins. Most of the time it bores me, but sometimes there's nothing better. Some stuff I can listen to all the time, like Biosphere, The Dead Texan/Stars of the Lid, and some of Roach's stuff, like this. But it has to transport me.

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listening to beatless ambient to me is like laying down on grass and staring at clouds looking for different shapes. you have to engage yourself to fully appreciate it, and i think that's why it's my favorite kind of music. even when i don't focus on it too much it can transform the atmosphere for me so it's really enjoyable if i want to read a book or do something lazily!!!

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I'm listening to Numina- Transparent Planet and while it is beautiful with spacious, floating pads I'm wondering why. Is it's sole purpose to b a soundtrack when going to sleep? It's hard to listen to as I find myself losing focus, trying to follow the melody. With droning pads it just seems so ponderously slow. With no beats to ground me, I feel like a balloon that is being carried away by the wind.

 

Does anyone enjoy this other than at night?

 

Mdk

 

It depends, but you have to be in the right mood to enjoy beatless stuff imo. Acid and other psychedelics are great and weed sometimes.

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It depends, but you have to be in the right mood to enjoy beatless stuff imo. Acid and other psychedelics are great and weed sometimes.

 

 

The drug days for me are long over, but I agree to fully appreciate it, you have to be in the mood for it. I think as of now I prefer downtempo or something with a beat as I can feel the changes in the music.

 

Mdk

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There is good ambient and A LOT of bad stuff, and lots of diversity in the genre. In my experience you have to put up with a lot of music that goes in 1 ear and out the other without you hearing anything before you find something you really love.

 

My favorite purely beatless release is probably Adam Saikh - Journey To The Sun. But if you allow some beats and rhythms, then my favorite is Solar Quest's Orgship & Orgism. There are a few gems on the FAX label like Sad World, Silence, Air, Dreamfish. Instinct Ambient has some others as well, like probably Mysteries Of Science, and Rising High Records, James Bernard, Syzygy.

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