Acid techno, sometimes known as "acid", is a genre of techno that was derived from acid house and developed in Europe in the late 1980s to 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 acid sound is achieved by turning up the filter resonance and turning down the cutoff frequency parameters of the synthesizer, along with programming the 303's accent, slide, and octave parameters.
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 proponents of the style included Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman), Aphex Twin, Dave Clarke, Hardfloor, solarquest, and Damon Wilde.