Lemmiwinks

well that's pretty hard to judge IMO since goatrance didn't really officially exist in 1993 when Overbloody Flood was released... and most of the trance played in Goa in the early 90s WAS stuff from Eye Q and Harthouse... as a general rule I see that artists who released stuff later on as psytrance get their earlier stuff called psytrance as well even if it had nothing even remotley psytrance in them... Personally I always like to play some old Dimension 5 to people and see their reaction :o too shocked to say anything :o ok if you put it that way... ALL PROGRESSIVE PSY!!!! I've been on a personal crusade to wipe psygressive out of the psytrance genre for years now. It has NONE of the elements that made goa/ psytrance stand out as a genre: no climaxes, no tension-release, no multi-layering, no acid lines, no melody changes, no atmospheric pads, etc etc etc Also Eat Static, Bamboo Forest, Joujouka, Juno Reactor and new XDream:) Also, the stuff that was called Nitzhonot as to make the difference with "serious" goatrance in the 90s is a lot more psytrancy than most full-on made today, not to mention new IM...

yeah it's a pitty when this happens... In defence for over-grading records: sometimes people buy a big stock of someone else at discogs and just transfer the stock they bought with grades and everything to their collection. You can understand that if you buy tens, even hundreds of records/ CDs you can't really check them one by one to see if the rating given by the seller before is correct or not. Although personally when this happens and I have a complaint from a buyer I ofeer him a hefty refund to compensate. I prefer losing a bit of money and go away with a good reputation than the other way around

just reading this now... I must say that I'm a bit puzzled on exactly why this track out of all the great goatrance tracks made during the years would be considered THE best? I could easily think of AT LEAST 20 tracks that are by far better classics than this one. But anyway, I guess you just can't argue about taste...

(inspired by Anoebis' post) So this is my question for you: which are THE best goa/ psytrance tracks of all time ever according to you. Stuff that you've listened to for millions of times and STILL don't get old. Stuff that, if there was an anouncement that the end of the World would be iminent and had to play in a last DJ set before we all went into oblivion. (post if possible with a link to youtube videos so that we can instantly get a feeling of the tracks you're raving about ) Luminus - Total Consciousness Boris Blenn - Rain (CS Remix) Mindfield - The Knowledge (bummer no video for this one... I should upload one ) So what about you?

01.Konichiwa 02.Forgotten Futurist (Live Mix) 03.Fear (Para Halu's Face-it Rmx) 04.Sudoku 05.Tempo Anpassen (the Path Rmx) 06.Wasabi 07.Big Trees Talk, Old Trees Walk (Part 1) 08.Spirit of the Wind (Para Halu's Hallelujah Rmx) 09.Sleepy Samurai There seems to be a tradition for dark trance producers to release 2 albums the same year at some point in their career. Well actually Para Halu will break this tradition by releasing 2 1/2 albums: Wide Range, Future Sound of... - Japanese Edition and finally the worldwide edition of this album. Although we're in December and I've still haven't seen the worldwide edition anywhere yet... Oh yeah, and don't bother searching the Japanese edition on psyshop or anything cause it was never commercially released, just given as a free gift to people coming to see Para's live performance in Tokyo. Anyway, after the burst of creativity in Wide Range, I had high hopes with this one, especially since it's supposed to be some sort of concept album with "more Japan-influenced tracks" as the release notes say. Well, I was pretty disspointed by the whole thing in the end... The album starts with a beatless japanese-influenced ambient track Konichiwa. This really warms you up expecting some interesting tracks to follow... Well actually they don't... Forgotten Futurist (Live Mix) is a pretty standard track, no more japan influences here... it brings a bit of morning feeling to it but isn't really memorable or anything. It kindof makes me wonder why they make it last for almost 14 minutes? Back to trademark dark psy with Fear (Para Halu's Face-it Rmx). Again, nothing to really stand out of the crowd here... Sudoku should be another "japan-influenced track" as they call it, although I don't really see where those influences are? Anyway, this is a pretty experimental "goofy" track. I don't really like this one either... Tempo Anpassen (the Path Rmx) I never was a big fan of the original version so I don't really understand why they bothered making a remix of it... there were other MUCH more interesting tracks on World of Peace that could've gotten a second life with a remix. Wasabi this one remids me a lot of Aerodance - Skazka a few years ago (you know, the remix of the Tetris theme by Paransese and XP Voodoo). Again, a pretty goofy track, but nothing quite memorable. And again, if there are japanese influences in there, they are pretty minimal... Big Trees Talk, Old Trees Walk (Part 1) ah finally something more interesting. This track starts out with a loong beatless intro (more than 4 minutes!!), featuring some nice pads and a ethereal woman voice singing. Then the rolling bassline starts and there is a nice morning track. This is the second-best track here. Spirit of the Wind (Para Halu's Hallelujah Rmx) ahhhh now that's more like it!!! This is THE best track on the album without a doubt. Great morning melody on top of a fast rolling dark trance bassline. If only the other tracks here sounded like that But at the same time, the relative lack of complexity makes it become old pretty fast. Still, this is a VERY good track Sleepy Samurai takes the exact same ethereal singing from Big Trees Talk, Old Trees Walk, but makes a beatless ambient track from it (this time with japanese influences that you can really hear ) The Good: This is a limited edition released as a gift at a Tokyo party featuring Para Halu, so if you can get your hands on the original, the collectors value is HUGE!! The Bad: only 2 tracks were actually good IMO and even those aren't really classic material, just great tracks... also, the whole "concept edition" thing is a scam IMO since you can't really hear any japanese influences except for the intro and outro tracks... Conclusion A great collector's item... but ONLY for collectors... if you want to hear new stuff from Para Halu, get Wide Range instead 6/10

1. Flash Signal 2. Naplement 3. Patternoia 4. Babylon 5. Methedrine Wave 6. Cybertalp 7. Rollertoaster 8. Blackhole 9. Radar 10. Alien Symphony Para Halu is back with a collaboration with The Path (aparently a fellow hungarian Peter Takacs although I must admit that I've never heard about the guy till now). Anyway they give us a surprizing album more oriented towards morning trance. Also for the first time Para Halu are actually using tracks WITHOUT a rolling bassline! The album starts off with Flash Signal which is very different to what we're used to hearing from these guys. First of all, there is no rolling bassline, and there is a dreamy morning feeling to the track. Although near the end there is a trademark fast screechy melody. It doesn't really seem to fit in at first but after some more listens it kindof all starts making sense. Napalement brings back the rolling bassline but keeps on the morning side of things. I like this one a lot as well Then we go into slightly darker territory with Patternoia although not too dark compared with their previous work. This is one of the weaker tracks on the album IMO. With Babylon we remain in dark territory but a different kind of dark. This makes me think more of The Delta than Para Halu. It is actually my favorite track on the album, a lot of creativity in there. Methedrine Wave brings us to the more typical Para Halu dark trance sound although there is a more hypnotic feeling in there than usual, again a little Delta/ X-Dream feeling in the track. Also near the end there's a nice use of the Formant Filter on the Thor vitual synth in Reason Cybertalp is the most experimental track on this album. It starts in a morning style but then turns to some jazz influences and in case you were reading previous reviews of mine you'll know that I HATE jazz, so I don't really like this track... Rollertoaster brings us back to typical dark psy territory. After hearing so much creativity in other tracks on this album, this one actually feels OLD in comparison... Blackhole is a very interesting experiment. It is basically a dark psy track turned into ambient (!!). They use the typical droning bassline, but without the kick, making is a very hypnotic rough ambient track. Although you're kindof expecting the kick to start from one moment to the other. Which it does in Radar. So Radar is basically the same track but with a kick added. Both tracks are cool and I like the idea of pregression from one to the other. With Alien Symphony we are back into experimental territory. This track ranges from dark to experimental to morning. Again, very creative use of sound patterns, although sometimes it feels a bit too wierd for me. The Good: Finally some artists who aren't afraid to explore new paths!!! I must say that in today's formula-driven scene this is a welcome change! The Bad: Although there are a lot of good tracks in here, there are no instant classics like Let the Peace Control Your Body or Cacao on Para's older albums. Conclusion Like with most radical style changes, you'll have to give this a few listens to get past the "WTF" feeling and start apreciating the album for what it is. That said, although I love the creativity put in here, there is no monster hit in this album compared to previous Para Halu's works so I'll give this an 8/10

I wouldn't really consider an artist with only 2 or 3 albums viable for this thread... After all, psytrance has been around for almost 15 years now, more than enough time to release more than 2-3 albums IMO Anyway, my vote definatley goes for Etnica: basically the only artists that were around since day 1 of the goa music scene and still make good stuff

[updated full review] Chi-a.d. – Sight of the Sages: Sorry but for me, Chi-AD has definatley lost it. I don't know if it's me having too high expectations of him (he was one of my favorite artists ever), but something just doesn't sound right with his new stuff. This track has a C12 Ohm feeling to it, and I liked C12 Ohm, but I don't like this one. But who knows, maybe it will grow on me... California Sunshine – Oblivion funny the first time I listened to this track it instantly reminded me their album Nasha and I was saying that it feels like I'm back in 1998. Well it turns out this was for a reason: this track WAS made in 1998! So this isn't new CS material, just an old unreleased track. Well, I'm part of the ones who believe that good music doesn't come with an expiration date so I welcome the decision of putting an old unreleased track in here, especially since it is one of the best tracks here IMO. Although I must admit that I'm slightly dissapointed that this is no new material, I would've liked to listen to what CS had to offer today. Virtuart & Chronomyst – Zanchin also one of the best tracks here and also for a reason: this is an unreleased track from 1996. There is no doubt here: making oldschool is definatley a lost art *sigh*. Aerosis – Lunar Effect some dreamy trance but made today and it shows... I like it a bit less but still an enjoyable track IMO Artifact303 – Energy Waves tempo picking up here, and as the artist name suggests, there is massive use of 303s. But overall I find this one of the weaker tracks on the albums. I find the overall melody a bit too commercial to my ears. Also when one mentions 303s and names the track "Energy Waves" I'd expect more... energy to come out of there Antares – Aurora Kindof reminds me of Khetzal (in a good way ). Very nice track but I was expecting a break followed by a melody change, or at least a key change near the end, which never came... Very good track but it could've been better IMO Ra – Gateway pretty much the same style as his new album. Nice, but nothing particularly memorable. Filteria – Back To Earth Filteria making downtempo, I wasn't expecting that lol Although in practice it sounds like a normal Filteria track with the pitch turned to -8, which kindof reminds me the lost art of playing 45 RPM records on 33 RPMs. Yes, the words "New Beat" come to my mind when listening to this one... I like the way Filteria manages to stay agressive while playing rather slowly. If there was a new generation of new beat (new new beat?), then I bet this is how it would sound The Good: putting unreleased tracks that are 10 years-old or even more on a 2008 comp is a bold move... but I like it Also the Filteria track is a real stand-out, I'd definatley like to hear more stuff like this The Bad: like with most Suntrip material (but not all, notable exceptions being Ka-Sol and Khetzal) there is an absence of memorable melody hooks. Remember the time when you'd go to a party and hear a great melody which would stay in your mind for weeks/ months/ YEARS until you'd randomly stumble on the track again and think "ah THAT'S the track I heard at that party"... well this just doesn't happen with newschool Conclusion Another excellent effort from Suntrip, I can only applaud their efforts to revive the oldschool spirit and not give into the mainstream sound. Although the fact that the 2 best tracks on this comp are old unreleased tracks makes me realize that in spite everyone's best efforts, something is still missing in the newschool sound compared to what used to be made a decade ago and this makes me kindof sad... 8,5/10

With Experience they were kindof searching their way. Good first effort, but quality-wise it was totally blown away by Music for the Jilted Generation. Even if I liked Fat of the Land, I didn't really agree with their over-use of vocals. IMO that music would've worked much better without Keith Flynt and Maxim screaming all the time on top of the tracks. However, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned was CRAP!!! Only Spitfire got my attention, the rest was so crap I'll never understand what the hell was Liam thinking when releasing it.

To be honest I never was a big fan of Infinity, even if the original was basically one of the very first trance tracks ever (way back in 1989!!). That said, I am amazed by how many people remember this track, confirmed by the success of the 2008 version. So what do you think about the new Guru Josh craze?

Hi! I've been into psytrance for a long long time now and I realize that I'm a bit left behind on new artists. I basically find myself only listening to artists that were around for years now and I'm a bit dissapointed by their new releases so I would like to hear some new talent. Just a bit on my background: I was mainly an oldschooler, although newschool isn't that good IMO (I don't know if it's the artists or just me getting tired of the sound), I also had a soft spot for dark psy a few years ago but find that the genre kindof peaked around 2005, I can't really find stuff made after that that are better or don't sound as pale copies in comparison. I also like a bit of full-on, but the "serious" type, not the poptrance vocal stuff. Also some old Delta/ Midi Milliz/ Spirallianz style techtrance (although I don't really like the new turn they have taken recently). So what would you recommend?

1 Brown Tone (10:10) 2 Ambientnot (9:07) 3 Klibby (7:43) 4 Energy+1 (8:47) 5 Greenbuttskunk (8:11) 6 Ghost Story (9:44) 7 Doublenine (7:31) 8 Tää Bää Fel 100 Fel (8:03) 9 Chill Em All (Trollmors Dub) (9:12) (BTW in case you were wondering if it's "Ghost" or "Gohst", there was a spelling error on the first batch of printed CDs, the error was corrected later so the official name is "Ghost Story" ) First of all, I should warn you that this has NOTHING to do with Fairytale released on Suntrip. If you are expecting to hear some morning trance then don't even come closer then 10 miles from it cause you will be utterly dissapointed! This is not official info, but from what I've heard during the years, the initial plan was to release a double-CD album by Ka-Sol on Schlab records, 1 CD with morning stuff and the 2nd with dark stuff, then since Anoebis was good friends with the Upsala crew, he decided to release the 1st CD with the morning music on Suntrip, leaving the 2nd CD to be released later on Schlab. So this is pure Schlab material and I know that not many people like their stuff (but the ones who do are absolutley crazy about it ). Now this one is very hard to review... On the first few listens I was thinking "maaan Ka-Sol has lost it" and I must say that I have heard better efforts from him in the past. BUT I was driving at night and thought of popping this album in my CD player again and it was one of the trippiest experiences in my life! Brown Tone pretty average intro track. I suppose Christer put it in there to slowly put us in the mood. Although personally I just skip this one and go to track no. 2 Ambientnot as the name would suggest, it all starts like some new age ambient, with a bird singing, then there is a dark atmosphere and the heavy kick starts. The the dark ambience continues and there still is this bird chirping, but more and more distant, then it actually sounds like the bird is getting confused, I could SWEAR that the bird was thinking "What the hell is happening here? Where am I?". This is actually one of the trippiest tracks I have ever heard from anyone and in any genre!! Klibby continues with a more agressive pace and still some sounds that sound like birds (I think?). Although this one isn't as good as Ambientnot IMO. Energy+1 is... energetic Too bad that it only starts to unfold around 6:00. I would've prefered to hear to synths a lot earlier, or the whole track to last longer so that the buildup could last more. Greenbuttskunk is another of my favorites. Again, some sounds that sound like distorted bird chirping, also some crows or something. Aound 4:00 the track starts taking a wierd direction giving you the WTF is going on here? feeling, then one of the BEST rythm patterns I have ever heard kick in around 5:00. This is incredibly hypnotic, too bad it doesn't last much. If I were Christer, I'd put min 5 to 6:20 in a loop for about 10 minutes Ghost Story starts pretty calm and... spooky and then it gradually build up and up. I like this track but others stand out much better IMO. Doublenine sounds more like old Ka-Sol and has a bit of a morning feeling to it... but not too much, the overall trends remains dark Tää Bää Fel 100 Fel kindof bridges the faster-paced tracks with the last downtempo one. Chill Em All haha this must be the coolest name for a track ever!!! The track itself is pretty cool downtempo, but obviously with a dark tone, like the rest of the album. Those little creeping sounds give the sonic impression of having millions of insects pouring into your ear canals. If I were high and heard this in a chill-out room, I'd probably leave the room in a panic lol Overall: The good: Trippy as hell, the closest you can get to a dark trip without actually taking acid. The Bad: The part that has been bugging me most is the time it takes for most tracks to finally build up... and then they end pretty abruptly. I would've prefered having the maxxed-out part last longer. Conclusion Great album but ONLY if you are in a certain mood: listen to it LOUD in a dark place. Oh and I wouldn't dare listening to this while on acid... would YOU? 8/10

I actually agreed with you on the first few listens... but then it started growing on me. OK let's face it, Ra never was classic material. Looking back on To Sirius, the only thing good that can be said of that album was that for years it was basically the last proper oldschool album to be commercially released until all this newschool hype came around. But it doesn't really stand out as a whole, like IFO, Cyclone, Dancing Galaxy, etc., and the same can be said here. That said this album still has its potential, like many said before me, it sounds a bit like Khetzal: the floating dreamy trance type, not the agressive "hurricane of sound making you want to pull your hair out of your head when on the dancefloor" type that most of us think of when speaking about oldschool. IMO that's why most people (including me) are a bit dissapointed when listening to all the newschool releases. Another thing bugging me (about this album and new school in general) is the absence of memorable hooks: ok, you're having a good time while listening to this album but press "stop" and try continuing the melody in your head: nothing will come because nothing really stands out! I remember back in the days some oldschool melodies were so memorable that they would stay in my mind for YEARS. For example, I haven't listened to Prana - Scarab for at least 5 years but all I have to do is close my eyes, think about the track and it all comes back to me in a flash: the way it starts with the didgeridoo sounds, the way it picks up and continues, the way it stops near the end and the great melody starts just when you thought the track was over, EVERYTHING! That simply isn't the case here, or with most newschool releases. Maybe this should be something that newschool producers should keep in mind for future releases? So yeah in conclusion this isn't classic material IMO but still an enjoyable listen and it is MUCH better than most new releases out there. Don't really see the use of making a track-by track review cause all the tracks sound more or less the same (think Dimension 5 meets Khetzal and you'll have a pretty good idea of how this album will sound ). Only the Intro (which I quite like BTW, even if it has the Raaa sample lol) and track 8 Transcendent (which sounds the most like "proper oldschool") stand out of the crowd. Oh and Light Reciever is a nice downtempo closing track. 8/10

Thanks, I thought I knew it from somewhere

1 Hint Of Goa (10:15) 2 Realignment (Vision Mix) (6:40) 3 Quantum Flux (8:21) 4 Earth Bound (9:37) 5 Edens Vale (9:01) 6 Sense Of Presence (7:09) 7 Cause And Effect (6:51) 8 Night Shadow (9:26) 9 White Fire (9:52) There is nothing more dissapointing than listening to the new release of one of your childhood heroes and realizing that it is CRAP... I really wanted to like this album, I really wanted to write a review saying something like "this is proof that oldschool is still alive" and "it payed off for Chi AD to stay true to his roots and not go into full-on territory even if it ment staying without a record deal for years". But I can't. Simply because NONE of the tracks on this really do it for me. The intro track Hint Of Goa is nice, it has an easy calm oldschool melody which I like. Good but not great... The last part of Earth Bound has a Chi AD trademark fast 303 melody... But the track as a whole seems to lack something. Listening to this track feels like taking a bad E. There's a certain rush but you feel dissapointed cause you feel that it could be a LOT better. Cause and Effect WOULD be a killer track but, just like with Earth Bound the rush given by the great tension-release around 2:40 is overcome by the feeling that it could've been much better. Another honorable mention goes to Night Shadow which is afaik Chi AD's first attempt to make dark trance. Although it sounded a LOT like some Johann Bley (in case anyone remembers him lol) so it kindof loses points on originality. And that's about it... The rest are filler material at best. OK to be honest Chi AD never had a reputation of consistency, you always had a few killer tracks and then lots of filles on his albums but the killers were so great that they more than compensated for the rest. But the same cannot be said here IMO. I mean even if the 4 tracks I've mentioned can be called "good", when you think that they were made by THE Chi AD, the mastermind who gave us some of the best trance tracks EVER like Eye am the I, Astral Warrior or Pathfinder, these sound very weak in comparison. Sorry Chi, but this only gets a 6/10 from me...

how about the track that starts around 36:40? I must've heard it a million times but I just can't put my finger on it. It's so frustrating to hear a track you know and can't remember the name!!

hmmm actually I'm kindof dissapointed by this album. OK I'm giving my impressions just after a few listens, maybe it will grow on me after a while but for now it's not quite what I was expecting. Basically you have some old Delta sounds and ideas but worked in a different way. For starters, most of the tracks are slower (at least they feel slower, I suppose mostly because the "droning sound" is absent this time). Also they use pads, but not the looong admospheric pads that would sometimes run all throughout the track (and which were what I liked most about old Delta). Also, interestingly enough, some tracks sound like Midi Miliz even though the Miliz boys have left the project! Wierd, huh? The opening track is a killer indeed... but it also remids me of Midi Milliz - Dos Canones... which kindof makes it less special. Still, this is one of the best tracks on the album IMO. Then come the 2 Minusman tracks. The breakbeat is cool in the beginning but personally I kindof expected it to pick up in some way or another which it never did. Also the distortion on the kicks is too high IMO. I'm not saying that I don't like distortions, but here we are sometimes in white noise territory, that's how much distortion there is. Nightmares and Dreamscapes has some nice ideas but it's too slow IMO. If you had the same pads on a the trademark Delta fast droning bassline this would've been MUCH better IMO. Midnight Circulator Rmx is a lot more oldschool Delta... although I must say that I found other oldschool Delta tracks more memorable. Why not make a Def By Delta or Travelling at the Speed of Thought remix? Now THAT would've been something Overpressure is basically minimal techno with some tribal influences... not very elaborate but it's actually one of the better tracks on this album IMO The Machines sounds pretty much like old Delta... but again something just doesn't sound right IMO. As A Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling Rmx... FINALLY a remix of one of their best tracks. BUT but again, something sounds wrong here. It actually sounds like someone blended in some Enigma in the beginning of the track! (yes yes, the Enigma who made Sadeness). Then it's basically the same track as the old one but with a full-on feeling... Yes, The Delta making full-on... at least it's unexpected I'll give you that Still, the more I listen to it, the more it all starts to make sense. Guess I'll just have to listen to it some more to give a final impression. Dustbuster sounds more like MidiMilliz then Delta... which is odd considering that the MidiMilliz guys left the project Still, a pretty cool track if you ask me Warp - ahh now that's more like it!!! looong atmospheric pads on top of a fast paced bassline. Too bad that they fuck it up with some vocoder voice samples. Nightmares & Dreamscapes again, this time with a breakbeat. I must say that all of a sudden this makes a lot more sense then the Backstream mix a few track earlier. Nothing to do with psy but pretty cool IMO. H.O.B. sounds indeed like it could've been a soundtrack to the new James Bond. Nice but... nothing to do with The Delta sound. The Bonus track is actually pretty nice, it has Kraftwerk written all over it Conclusion I'm not saying it's a BAD album and my feelings is that if I give it some more listens it will grow on me but for now I must say that I'm a bit disapointed with this. I mean, if it was released under another name I might've judged it less harshly but this is THE DELTA. They're supposed to be überexcellent, not just good 7/10 (for now)

First a general remark: are you using a sub when mixing? Cause I think that somewhere down the line you hear much more bass than you put in your tracks. IMO there is something that you have to change, either in your sound system arrangement or your EQ settings... [EDIT: it seems buzzman had a more in-depth reply than me ] Now for the tracks: haha those synthlines in Fever Dream sounds very much like Shaolin Wooden Men indeed The ideas are interesting, the main problem I'm having with your track is the production values: the bass is pretty thin and the mids stand out too much in front of the soundstage... and since those synths are pretty harsh sounding already, pushing them in the front of the soundstage is NOT a good idea... Alien Machinations I like less... IMO this kind of music just doesn't work well without a massive rolling bassline. If you could ditch the thin kicks and bassline and replace them with a big rolling bassine I think it would work out MUCH better. Again, there is the problem of the sytnhs standing out too much in front of the soundstage, for example there is a synth that starts around 6:20 that just SCREAMS, I felt compelled to turn down the volume or else I think that my ears would've started to bleed... Oh and I don't really see where does the track becomes "lighter" and even less when it becomes classic trance? But keep up the good work and don't mind about the music theory, the more theory you'll learn, the more you're gonna want to stick to formulas which will eventually kill your originality... Just do stuff that sounds good to you and if it IS good, others will follow. I'm pretty sure that groundbreaking acts like Kraftwerk or Derrick May didn't know shit about music theory either

auction ended at 151€... guess that's not even close to the reserve price... Otherwise I'm willing to offer 200€

wouldn't YOU like to know :lol:

never heard anything good about M-Audio monitors... you can definately find better price/ quality ratios out there Here is the short-list I had when looking for a pair of monitors around your price-range: Tannoy Reveal Active Alesis M1 Active 620 Yamaha HS 50M Samson Resolv 2.1 (less known brand but they have the advantage to offer a sub for the same price, and from what I've heard about them they're not bad at all) Each of these monitors have their strenghts and weaknesses and in the end it will be a matter of personal taste, like I said what matters most is being intimate with them and knowing how they will translate to other systems rather than the brand of the monitor itself...

14,50 euros for Etnica's synth??? You must be kidding me... [Edit: oh I didn't realize there was a reserve price... that makes more sense ]

I confirm that the FIRST sample that he's playing is 432Hz and the second @ 440Hz... Personally I found the 432Hz sample to be easyier on the ears, the 440 one was a bit too "rough" in comparison. Personally I prefered the first sample but I guess it all boils down to a matter of taste and speaker setup.

(short answer): if you can get a pair of Adams for 350 euros then go for it!! But keep in mind that the price you've read is probably for ONE montior, not the pair... But who knows, maybe the store you went to is doing some massive discount or something, if that is really the price for a PAIR then I wouldn't hesitate if I were you. And even if you don't like them, you could sell them for a profit on eBay I can also tell you that the Truths may be good montiros but they are CRAP in build-quality. I'd stay away from those... Not heard of many reviews of the KRKs but from what I hear they are so-so. (long answer, a summary of years of my personal research ): generally speaking, there is no ideal monitor... what matters most is being "intimate" with your monitor, knowing EXACTLY how it will respond at a certain frequency and how it would "translate" to other systems. Bare in mind that the main objective of using monitors is not so that YOU can enjoy the music you produce but rather to make it enjoyable to the people who are susceptible of buying your music. That's why as a general rule if a music store seller or someone on a music forum tells you to buy a certain brand of monitors because they "sound great" you should probably ignore their advice cause that means that they don't really understand what music producing is all about... Most of the time these people are just gearwhores with rooms full of expensive equipment they never really use (or if they do use it, they don't use it properly, like for example buying a pair of 5000€ monitors to listen to MP3s on their computer). Their main objective in life is to brag about all the stuff they have and how much they paid for it (aka "my dick is bigger than yours" alpha-male talk...) rather then actually produce music... Of course, I'm drawing a caricature here, the truth isn't as one-sided as I'm presenting it but it would be a good idea to keep what I just said in mind when listening to advice from self-proclaimed "experts". Now you should also think about the possibility of upgrading: electronic dance music is by definition pretty focused on the low frequencies and even with the most expensive and accurate near-field (small) monitors you'll never be able to hear those low frequencies properly simply because they are too small. Most professional producers also have a pair of large monitors (which are considerably more expensive...) to "test" their music and see how it would sound on a big sound system on the dancefloor, where most of this music is usually played. If you rely ONLY on nearfields you might be mixing in too much bass. The best way around this for people starting to make music and on a budget (after all, why invest in a pair of 3000 euro monitors if you're just going to fool around in your bedroom and never actually release anything?) is a subwoofer to attach to the nearfields. It won't be as acurate as a set of large monitors, but still a good compromise. That's why if I were you I'd also look for the possibility of adding a matched sub to the nearfields in the future. Personally I bought a pair of Yamaha HS 50M which are around your price range because of the translating thing I told you earlier and because I can add a matched subwoofer (the HS 10W) when/if I decide to upgrade. PS proper montiors is just one part the computer music production chain... but for the circle to be complete you'll also need a good soundcard (but rest assured, you can easily find a decent soundcard second-hand on eBay in the 50-100€ price range). Otherwise, the great pair of monitors you just bought will sound like crap, not because they are crap, but because they accuratley reproduce the crappy signal coming out of your soundcard...