Acid techno


Acid techno, sometimes known generally as "acid", is a genre of techno that was derived from acid house and developed in Europe in the early 1990s. It saw younger artists apply the "squelching" synthesizer sound of Chicago acid house to harder-edged techno material.

Characteristics

The acid style was obtained largely through Roland instruments, most prominently the TB-303 bass synthesizer. The term Acid specifically refers to the harsh "acidic" squelching sound of the Roland 303. The acid sound is achieved by manipulating the resonance and cutoff frequency parameters of the synthesizer; doing so in real-time as the track is being recorded is a technique known as tweaking.
In addition to acid records imported from the US, the style was influenced by sources such as hardcore, German trance, and Belgian rave music.

History

Early exponents of the style included Richie Hawtin, Aphex Twin, and Dave Clarke, Hardfloor, solarquest, Damon Wilde. Other mainstays included London acts such as Liberators, Henry Cullen, Guy McAffer, and DDR. In London, the acid techno scene developed via illegal network of parties; the 1997 compilation It's Not Intelligent…And It's Not From Detroit…But It's F**king 'Avin It was subtitled "The Sound of London's Acid Techno Underground" and helped to solidify the genre in the underground consciousness.
bass synthesizer provided the electronic squelch sounds often heard in acid tracks.
Acid Techno music has been regaining interest after 2015 as so called Roland TB-303 clones appeared on the market. Both Soft and Hardware clones of the TB-303 are available.
Roland the original manufacturer has relaunched the TB-303 and also created a software version.