Psychedelic Trance
Psy · 1995 · 140 to 150 BPM · also known as Uptempo Psy, UK Psy, Melodic Psytrance, Dark Psytrance, Psytrance, Psy Trance
The globalised form that succeeded Goa in the late 1990s: cleaner digital production, a continuous rolling bass, liquid textures, and a tempo between 140 and 148. Israel became its second home, and festivals its central institution, from Boom in Portugal to Ozora in Hungary. Every branch this map details, from full on to dark, grows out of this single common trunk, precise and globally recognisable wherever it is played.
16 reference tracks
- Koma Club: Palpitating (1995)
- Disco Volante: El Metro (Cosmosis mix) (1995)
- Tanzmuzik: Cainern (1995)
- Hallucinogen: Gamma Goblins (1998)
- Infected Mushroom: Return of the Shadows (1999)
- Shpongle: Dorset Perception (1998)
- Astrix: Poison (2004)
- Infected Mushroom: Becoming Insane (2007)
- Infected Mushroom: Guitarmass (2020)
- Astrix: Sahara (2019)
- Spacemen 3 vs Horton Jupiter: Revolution 23 (2023)
- Infected Mushroom: Change the Formality
- Infected Mushroom: In Front of Me
- Infected Mushroom: Psycho
- Infected Mushroom: End of the Road
- Infected Mushroom: Eat It Raw
At a glance
- Tempo: 140 to 150 BPM
- First appeared: around 1995
- Machines: Clavia Nord Lead, Access Virus, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase
- The sound: Basse rolling en doubles croches, Nord Lead et Virus TI, FX liquides et delays, Cubase puis Ableton
- Labels: Twisted Records, Iboga Records, Hom-Mega, Blue Room, Nano, Sangoma
- Key artists: Infected Mushroom, Astrix, X-Dream, Shpongle (versant downtempo), Ajja
Producing Psychedelic Trance
The core tempo sits between 140 and 148 BPM, with 145 as a common reference point, everything quantized dead straight with no swing: movement comes from the rolling bass and delays, not from groove. The whole track leans on a one bar pattern repeated with digital precision, kick on the beat, bass on the three sixteenths that follow. Keep the kick short and round with a marked click and a tail under 150 milliseconds, with a dry snare or layered clap on two and four, closed hats on the offbeats, and an open hat on the and of four. The rolling bass defines the genre: the kick plays the first sixteenth, the bass the following three, each note short, built from a filtered sawtooth with a fast decaying envelope. Add liquid FX from resonant filter sweeps.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Psychedelic Trance?
The globalised form that succeeded Goa in the late 1990s: cleaner digital production, a continuous rolling bass, liquid textures, and a tempo between 140 and 148. Israel became its second home, and festivals its central institution, from Boom in Portugal to Ozora in Hungary. Every branch this map…
What tempo is Psychedelic Trance played at?
Between 140 and 150 BPM.
Who are the key Psychedelic Trance artists?
Infected Mushroom, Astrix, X-Dream, Shpongle (versant downtempo), Ajja.
In the same family
- Goa Trance
- Full-On
- Nitzhonot
- Twilight Psy
- Morning Full-On
- Dark Psy
- Forest Psy
- Hi-Tech Psy
- Psycore
- Zenonesque
- Psy-Prog
- Psytech
Listen to Psychedelic Trance in the atlas · Cette page en français
