Acid techno is the term used to describe a style of techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 that developed out of late 1980s Chicago Acid house

Acid house

Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...

. Acid house

Acid house

Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...

 was essentially house music made with a specific sound, obtained by using very distinctive instruments created mainly by Roland

Roland Corporation

is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...

, such as the TB-303 for bass and lead sounds, and the TR-909 and TR-808 for percussion. Acid specifically refers to the use of the Roland TB-303, or any other synthesizer designed to emulate its unique sound. While modern electronic instruments have memory banks of different sounds or patches, these machines had to be manually set by adjusting control knobs. The acid

Acid

An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

 sound was obtained by either setting these controls to extreme parameters, or manipulating these controls in real-time as the track was being recorded, something record producers would call tweaking.

History

One of the first acid techno records ever recorded is Circuit Breaker: Experiments in Sound, produced by Richie Hawtin

Richie Hawtin

Richard Hawtin is an English-Canadian electronic musician and DJ who was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s and a leading exponent of Minimal techno since the mid 1990s...

 on Probe Records

Probe Records

Probe Records was a sub-label of ABC-Paramount Records. It was started in 1968 as their label for psychedelic rock and progressive rock.-Releases:Number - Title - Artist [Release Date]...

. Some examples of other North American acid techno labels would include Drop Bass Network

Drop Bass Network

Drop Bass Network is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin based rave production company and record label formed in 1992 and founded by Kurt Eckes and Patrick Spencer...

 (didn't release anything til 1993, long after acid techno was already popular in Europe), and very early Dance Mania

Dance Mania

Dance Mania is a Chicago record label founded by Jesse Saunders in 1985. Jesse conveyed Dance Mania in 1986 to Raymond Barney when he left for Los Angeles. It released many house music and acid house records in the 80s and early 90s and defined the ghetto house sound in 1994 and 1995.DJ Funk ...

. Acid techno continues to be mainly a fairly underground form of music.

Notable Producers

• Aphex Twin
  Aphex Twin
  Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
  
  
• Plastikman
• Dave Clarke
• Luke Vibert
  Luke Vibert
  Luke Vibert is a British recording artist and producer known for his work in many subgenres of electronic music. Vibert began his musical career as a member of the Hate Brothers, only later branching out into his own compositions...
  
  
• Martin Damm
  Martin Damm
  Martin Damm was a professional tennis player from Czechia. He is 6'2" 195 lb and is best known as a doubles player . ,his highest singles ranking 42 as of August 1997...
  
  
• Mike Ink
• Rob Acid
• Brixton
• Hardfloor
  Hardfloor
  Hardfloor is a German techno and acid trance duo, consisting of Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker. Their most famous track is "Acperience 1" ....
  
  
• DJ Darkzone
  DJ Darkzone
  DJ Darkzone is a German underground electronic music producer and DJ.-Career:Baur worked for some time as a club DJ, a radio DJ, and a music producer for various advertising companies. In 1989, Baur expanded his musical career by establishing the Manifold Records Music & Marketing label...
  
  
• Jon the Dentist
  Jon the Dentist
  Jon the Dentist is a British hardhouse and trance music record producer. He released many popular singles including "Feel So Good" and "Imagination" with Ollie Jaye, both of which reached the UK Singles Chart....
  
  
• Henry Cullen (D.A.V.E. The Drummer)
• Ant
• Spiral Tribe
  Spiral Tribe
  Spiral Tribe is a free party sound system which existed in the first half of the 1990s, and became active again in 2007. The collective originated in west London and later travelled across Europe and North America. According to one member, the name came to him when he was at work, staring at a...
  
  
• Emmanuel Top
  Emmanuel Top
  Emmanuel Top is a French acid techno music producer from Lille popular in the 1990s for his releases on his own record label, Attack Records.His most famous track is titled "Turkish Bazaar", released in 1994, which contains warped, looping vocal lyrics, originally written by Jim Morrison: "the...
  
  
• Kai Tracid
  Kai Tracid
  Kai Tracid is a German Trance DJ and producer. The name Tracid originates from the combination of the two music genres trance and acid....
  
  
• Chris Liberator
• Last Step

External links

• Old School Acid Techno, Some Old School Acid Techno tracks