6 ms·

I have just returned from one psytrance festival. I like to go there, not mainly for the music (which I like mostly), but for the atmosphere. Meeting all kind o

by ssijak 7y ago

I have just returned from one psytrance festival. I like to go there, not mainly for the music (which I like mostly), but for the atmosphere. Meeting all kind of different people and getting out from the usual "reality" and norms and rat race and jumping into crazines, relaxing the norms and trying new things. It is so refreshing, I always return home more happy and enthusiastic about life. And yes, people eat like tons of drugs at festivals, but I had never ever seen or experienced anything bad from people on trance festivals (which I can see everywhere where alcohol is the main drug). Sounds too hippy maybe, but that is my experience.

Fnoord 7y ago
This resonates with my experience as well. For me, the goa/psy trance community will always remain the most open-minded, friendly music community I've been part of. I'm even kind of proud to have been part of that scene, doing my 2 ct. contribution to it (mainly, connecting artists with labels and vice versa, giving artists feedback on their tracks, buying legal copies, as well as sharing obscure material to goa trance lovers). And I have been part of many (music) subcultures in my youth.
- sharadov 7y ago
  I used to be part of the goa psytrance community, introduced to it by a dear friend ( who was a little too into it). At one point he was getting Djs and throwing parties and not even taking money for entrance tickets. It was a great time.
piva00 7y ago
This is why I love techno festivals and parties. I also like the music (and I'm a hobbyist producer myself) but the sheer freedom you have for a whole festival or even evening/weekend is liberating, is a escape from reality. And the hypnotic sound also gets me to other places, even when sober. P.S.: and by "techno" I mean the genre of EDM called techno, starting in Detroit in late 80s/early 90s and spreading through Europe by the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, not the "general techno" that is used in US to mean any kind of electronic dance music.
- narag 7y ago
  Care to share what software/hardware you use?
  - piva00 7y ago
    Sure! One thing that I love about the music producing/synth community is that we all love to share :) I have dedicated myself to use only hardware for a while, working on a computer for 8+ hours a day really puts me off on being creative on it so I went to the only-hardware route. With that said, my current setup is: * Roland TR-8S for the drums, recreations of the classic drum machines (TR-606, 707, 808, 909, etc.) and it also plays samples, it's a really cool instrument to play live and perform instead of programming but with the A-H variations per pattern it also is much more powerful than the previous TR-8 * Elektron Analog Four Mk II as my main analog synth, it can do 4-voice polyphony if you aren't using all 4 tracks for different sounds or you get 4-in-1 synths with 2 oscillators per track, a lot of options for modulation (2 envelopes per track, 2 LFOs per track, etc.). I use it mainly for basslines and some leads but sometimes will use for pads, sample them and free up the tracks for playing other stuff. * Elektron Octatrack Mk II is my brain for the setup, my sampler, my pickup machine, looper, and so it goes. It's a VERY deep machine with tons of possibilites, artists across many genres use it (from Radiohead to a lot of techno producers) and I'm even using it to help a friend who has a solo ballad rock project to add some cool ambiance to his tracks. * Elektron Digitone, my FM and polysynth, 8 voices, 2 per track but as the A4 it can steal voices from other tracks to play up to 8 notes at a time from a single track. This machine is really cool and inspiring, it's FM-made-easy as apart from the FM engine you also get the world of subtractive synthesis with its filters. I also love that that it has 4 MIDI tracks that I can internally route back to it to use more than 2 LFOs per track to have even more modulation. I'm very happy with this setup, it covers all the bases while keeping it more or less compact (for a 4 synths setup). Feel free to ask any more questions if you've got them :)
    - nvirDoomed 7y ago
      Been wanting to get a digitone, how easy is it to sculpte basses (similar to dnb like artists similar to bredran) Also what is the inputs left and right used for? It looks amazing especially when you need to travel
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
GuB-42 7y ago
I often say that psytrance is not my favorite kind of music (I still like it) but they have the best community. Even if you don't share all their ideas (my case) you won't have any problem getting along as long as you are open minded. About drugs, sure, there are lots. But no one will force you to take them and they won't think any less of you if you don't.
emptyfile 7y ago
Very similar experience. TBH after a few festivals it has gotten stale to me and I haven't been in a few years, but the experience of the first one which got me into the rave scene in general is one of my most treasured memories. The people are amazing and friendly, even tough their beliefs are mostly batshit insane. The vibe is so much better than any other festivals (and no trash! clean nature!). Music wise I've always preferred other psychedelic genres to actual psytrance, but there always interesting stuff at festivals.
- craigzucchini 7y ago
  While I haven't been, this is something I find tricky to reconcile, but appreciate that I'm not the only one. My main interest would be the super large scale hardstyle festivals— which I feel might be easier to enjoy relatively sober and feels a bit less granola—but many friends I grew up with go to Shambhala. It seems like a fun time, beautiful scenery, art, music and so on. But it seems like as they've been abusing pot and shrooms etc—abusing pot mostly—they've gone deep down a rabbit hole of paranoid thinking, naturopathy, veganism, iridology, and other nonsense. I'm far from straight-laced—though maybe somewhat straight-edge—but it irks me when "practitioners" of these things claim to other vulnerable people that eating a fruit only diet will cure their colon cancer.
  - ssijak 7y ago
    I can much more easily digest and have conversations with this kind of people at festivals, than the regular majority who think human brought climate change is not real, blowing countries up will bring democraty there, TV is the best fun, killing billions of animals in cruel conditions is somehow manly and cool, etc...
  - KitDuncan 7y ago
    I loved that people on psytrance festivals seemed to eat more vegan food than average. Such a breath of fresh air to not see everyone stuffing their faces with meat 24/7
stinos 7y ago
> not mainly for the music (which I like mostly), but for the atmosphere He for me it's actually the other way around. Well, sort of: I really go for the music or more specifically for dancing hours in row. It does get me in a trance and that is the main aspect which makes me return home more happy and enthusiastic as you call it (too bad that effect doesn't last long but that's something else). But this wouldn't be possible without the atmosphere: I can only dance like a maniac because it feels ok there, exactly because no one cares and/or does what I do. The feeling of unity is very strong at goa parties, possibly the strongest of all genres I've been to. Even if I barely talked to anyone for a whole night, I exchanged smiles with many strangers and felt like we all wanted the same thing. It's a pity this only exists for more underground parties; other genres have this as well (punk and all subgenres, acidcore and the likes, some techno but definitely not all/everywhere). Society would be a better place if people would behave like this always and everywhere including daily life. So it's a pity not everyone experiences this. Note I wouldn't be too fast blaming alcohol for problems at other parties i.e. I'm not convinced there's a causal relationship. There's quite a lot of drinking at trance/... parties as well, and I yet have to see parties where apart from alcohol no other drugs get used. I think it's more of a correlation between the type of people and their general mindset and the use of alcohol and the abberant behavior and those people not going to trance parties.
- leetcrew 7y ago
  also in my experience people will get drunk and quite physical at hardcore (punk) shows, but are also quite caring and considerate about it. I think the community around the music is much more causal than the inebriant of choice.
bromuro 7y ago
Oh i love psytrance family they changed my life and my attitude towards people. And psytrance is a beautiful music to listen to when programming!
mping 7y ago
I'm glad you had a good experience. When I was younger I was producing psytrance (I played the guitar) and I would do liveacts with a dj + my guitar. I had some pretty cool gigs and nice songs too. Unfortunately, what made me quit the scene was the transformation I saw on my friends and acquaintances due to drug abuse. I don't know if it is a cultural thing, but I have witnessed people losing some or all of their mental sanity due to drug abuse; one time I was at a party when someone died - in the end I called it quits because I didn't want to become involved with that in any way. I still like the music though
- forthispurpose 7y ago
  Was it in Russia?
  - mping 7y ago
    Nope, western europe.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- weavie 7y ago
  I also know a number of people in the scene who lost their sanity through drug abuse. It is sad, but when you are partying and abusing yourself every weekend for years on end something is going to give.
  - imesh 7y ago
    I'm not saying there isn't a correlation with partiers who do lots of drugs and mental illness, but I have watched a lot of people lose their minds across all my social circles. It seems like a certain percentage of people lose their minds in their early 20s.
scarejunba 7y ago
I absolutely fucking love trance, though my current favourite is downtempo stuff. It is the most friendly large-scale group event genre. I think it's just that the way it all started keeps it going. Like how software just managed to coincidentally have the open-source movement early on and that shaped what it would look like. I think having PLUR get in so early really made it look like what it is today. Also, I'm not wholly unconvinced that maybe more LSD-use would make us all so much better as people.
pugworthy 7y ago
It's not just the music, but your general description of the atmosphere is basically mine with Burning Man.
mushtar 7y ago
What drugs are associated with the psytrance culture? I'm guessing LSD and psilocybin, but are there other more niche ones that are common?
- torified 7y ago
  I'd guess MDMA would be the most common.
- ssijak 7y ago
  Psychedelics and amphetamines are in a very large majority (not taking into account weed which is very common with anyone who does any drug). But people do all kind of drugs in some percent. For example I had one friend who once per year took heroin, but only once. He has a very normal and responsible job and a career.

by ssijak 7y ago

Fnoord 7y ago

This resonates with my experience as well. For me, the goa/psy trance community will always remain the most open-minded, friendly music community I've been part of. I'm even kind of proud to have been part of that scene, doing my 2 ct. contribution to it (mainly, connecting artists with labels and vice versa, giving artists feedback on their tracks, buying legal copies, as well as sharing obscure material to goa trance lovers). And I have been part of many (music) subcultures in my youth.

sharadov 7y ago
I used to be part of the goa psytrance community, introduced to it by a dear friend ( who was a little too into it). At one point he was getting Djs and throwing parties and not even taking money for entrance tickets. It was a great time.

piva00 7y ago

This is why I love techno festivals and parties. I also like the music (and I'm a hobbyist producer myself) but the sheer freedom you have for a whole festival or even evening/weekend is liberating, is a escape from reality. And the hypnotic sound also gets me to other places, even when sober. P.S.: and by "techno" I mean the genre of EDM called techno, starting in Detroit in late 80s/early 90s and spreading through Europe by the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, not the "general techno" that is used in US to mean any kind of electronic dance music.

narag 7y ago
Care to share what software/hardware you use?
- piva00 7y ago
  Sure! One thing that I love about the music producing/synth community is that we all love to share :) I have dedicated myself to use only hardware for a while, working on a computer for 8+ hours a day really puts me off on being creative on it so I went to the only-hardware route. With that said, my current setup is: * Roland TR-8S for the drums, recreations of the classic drum machines (TR-606, 707, 808, 909, etc.) and it also plays samples, it's a really cool instrument to play live and perform instead of programming but with the A-H variations per pattern it also is much more powerful than the previous TR-8 * Elektron Analog Four Mk II as my main analog synth, it can do 4-voice polyphony if you aren't using all 4 tracks for different sounds or you get 4-in-1 synths with 2 oscillators per track, a lot of options for modulation (2 envelopes per track, 2 LFOs per track, etc.). I use it mainly for basslines and some leads but sometimes will use for pads, sample them and free up the tracks for playing other stuff. * Elektron Octatrack Mk II is my brain for the setup, my sampler, my pickup machine, looper, and so it goes. It's a VERY deep machine with tons of possibilites, artists across many genres use it (from Radiohead to a lot of techno producers) and I'm even using it to help a friend who has a solo ballad rock project to add some cool ambiance to his tracks. * Elektron Digitone, my FM and polysynth, 8 voices, 2 per track but as the A4 it can steal voices from other tracks to play up to 8 notes at a time from a single track. This machine is really cool and inspiring, it's FM-made-easy as apart from the FM engine you also get the world of subtractive synthesis with its filters. I also love that that it has 4 MIDI tracks that I can internally route back to it to use more than 2 LFOs per track to have even more modulation. I'm very happy with this setup, it covers all the bases while keeping it more or less compact (for a 4 synths setup). Feel free to ask any more questions if you've got them :)
  - nvirDoomed 7y ago
    Been wanting to get a digitone, how easy is it to sculpte basses (similar to dnb like artists similar to bredran) Also what is the inputs left and right used for? It looks amazing especially when you need to travel

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

GuB-42 7y ago

I often say that psytrance is not my favorite kind of music (I still like it) but they have the best community. Even if you don't share all their ideas (my case) you won't have any problem getting along as long as you are open minded. About drugs, sure, there are lots. But no one will force you to take them and they won't think any less of you if you don't.

emptyfile 7y ago

Very similar experience. TBH after a few festivals it has gotten stale to me and I haven't been in a few years, but the experience of the first one which got me into the rave scene in general is one of my most treasured memories. The people are amazing and friendly, even tough their beliefs are mostly batshit insane. The vibe is so much better than any other festivals (and no trash! clean nature!). Music wise I've always preferred other psychedelic genres to actual psytrance, but there always interesting stuff at festivals.

craigzucchini 7y ago
While I haven't been, this is something I find tricky to reconcile, but appreciate that I'm not the only one. My main interest would be the super large scale hardstyle festivals— which I feel might be easier to enjoy relatively sober and feels a bit less granola—but many friends I grew up with go to Shambhala. It seems like a fun time, beautiful scenery, art, music and so on. But it seems like as they've been abusing pot and shrooms etc—abusing pot mostly—they've gone deep down a rabbit hole of paranoid thinking, naturopathy, veganism, iridology, and other nonsense. I'm far from straight-laced—though maybe somewhat straight-edge—but it irks me when "practitioners" of these things claim to other vulnerable people that eating a fruit only diet will cure their colon cancer.
- ssijak 7y ago
  I can much more easily digest and have conversations with this kind of people at festivals, than the regular majority who think human brought climate change is not real, blowing countries up will bring democraty there, TV is the best fun, killing billions of animals in cruel conditions is somehow manly and cool, etc...
- KitDuncan 7y ago
  I loved that people on psytrance festivals seemed to eat more vegan food than average. Such a breath of fresh air to not see everyone stuffing their faces with meat 24/7

stinos 7y ago

> not mainly for the music (which I like mostly), but for the atmosphere He for me it's actually the other way around. Well, sort of: I really go for the music or more specifically for dancing hours in row. It does get me in a trance and that is the main aspect which makes me return home more happy and enthusiastic as you call it (too bad that effect doesn't last long but that's something else). But this wouldn't be possible without the atmosphere: I can only dance like a maniac because it feels ok there, exactly because no one cares and/or does what I do. The feeling of unity is very strong at goa parties, possibly the strongest of all genres I've been to. Even if I barely talked to anyone for a whole night, I exchanged smiles with many strangers and felt like we all wanted the same thing. It's a pity this only exists for more underground parties; other genres have this as well (punk and all subgenres, acidcore and the likes, some techno but definitely not all/everywhere). Society would be a better place if people would behave like this always and everywhere including daily life. So it's a pity not everyone experiences this. Note I wouldn't be too fast blaming alcohol for problems at other parties i.e. I'm not convinced there's a causal relationship. There's quite a lot of drinking at trance/... parties as well, and I yet have to see parties where apart from alcohol no other drugs get used. I think it's more of a correlation between the type of people and their general mindset and the use of alcohol and the abberant behavior and those people not going to trance parties.

leetcrew 7y ago
also in my experience people will get drunk and quite physical at hardcore (punk) shows, but are also quite caring and considerate about it. I think the community around the music is much more causal than the inebriant of choice.

bromuro 7y ago

Oh i love psytrance family they changed my life and my attitude towards people. And psytrance is a beautiful music to listen to when programming!

mping 7y ago

I'm glad you had a good experience. When I was younger I was producing psytrance (I played the guitar) and I would do liveacts with a dj + my guitar. I had some pretty cool gigs and nice songs too. Unfortunately, what made me quit the scene was the transformation I saw on my friends and acquaintances due to drug abuse. I don't know if it is a cultural thing, but I have witnessed people losing some or all of their mental sanity due to drug abuse; one time I was at a party when someone died - in the end I called it quits because I didn't want to become involved with that in any way. I still like the music though

forthispurpose 7y ago
Was it in Russia?
- mping 7y ago
  Nope, western europe.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
weavie 7y ago
I also know a number of people in the scene who lost their sanity through drug abuse. It is sad, but when you are partying and abusing yourself every weekend for years on end something is going to give.
- imesh 7y ago
  I'm not saying there isn't a correlation with partiers who do lots of drugs and mental illness, but I have watched a lot of people lose their minds across all my social circles. It seems like a certain percentage of people lose their minds in their early 20s.

scarejunba 7y ago

I absolutely fucking love trance, though my current favourite is downtempo stuff. It is the most friendly large-scale group event genre. I think it's just that the way it all started keeps it going. Like how software just managed to coincidentally have the open-source movement early on and that shaped what it would look like. I think having PLUR get in so early really made it look like what it is today. Also, I'm not wholly unconvinced that maybe more LSD-use would make us all so much better as people.

pugworthy 7y ago

It's not just the music, but your general description of the atmosphere is basically mine with Burning Man.

mushtar 7y ago

What drugs are associated with the psytrance culture? I'm guessing LSD and psilocybin, but are there other more niche ones that are common?

torified 7y ago
I'd guess MDMA would be the most common.
ssijak 7y ago
Psychedelics and amphetamines are in a very large majority (not taking into account weed which is very common with anyone who does any drug). But people do all kind of drugs in some percent. For example I had one friend who once per year took heroin, but only once. He has a very normal and responsible job and a career.