Tracing the Bleep: The History of the "Rave Signal" in Techno music

The advent of Techno, and later, Hardcore, did lead to the evolution of a lot of novel sounds - in all the world of music.
But there is hardly any sound that was so completely new, and still wide-spread, as the "Rave Signal".

If you look at sounds like the Mentasm / Hoover: 80s Synth Pop or Industrial bands already used bendy synth sounds, and, before that, Jimi Hendrix or Duane Eddy did bend their guitars. It's an evolution, and the Mentasm was, of course, a very groundbreaking and novel part of this evolution.
The same could be said about the use of percussion, drum beats, or distortion in techno-hardcore.

But the rave signal came more or less "out of thin air". As far as i know, there was nothing comparable to it in all the major genres that existed before.

Sure, maybe some acts or bands used it partly, sparsely... but it took the emergence of Techno for the rave signal to appear in its final form.

So what is the rave signal?
It's a term, and there are others for it, like "bleep" or "beep", or "sonar sound", or rave alert...
It's a certain sound that, indeed, somewhat resembles that of a submerged sonar "ping" or a high tech alert system going off... but it's sometimes so mutated that it more sounds like a lunatic alien transmission from star system x.

And yes, if we look really rationally or sober at it, even if the sample source might be an actual sonar, the one thing in the history of sound, that *does* exist and sounds closest to it, are recordings of transmission by the Sputniks, Voyagers, Mariners, and Pioneers that sent their data from outer space, traversing the stratosphere, back to earth.

"I'm just raving to a satellite...".

It is almost always used in a complete non-melodic way, with a single note being repeated in a simple sequence of 1-4 bars.
This is what it sets apart from other sounds in early techno music which were used to enhance the rhythm as well, like acid-lines, orch-hits, rave-riffs, hoovers...
Often the sound itself is atonal.

Now let's get on with our little history lesson.

I will not even pretend to claim that i know who truly used it first, or all of the tracks that used it... so this is more like a "glimpse" into the trajectory of our interstellar rave signals.

1. Joey Beltram - Energy Flash (1990)

Simon Reynolds named a book after this track. This should show you how important it is in the history of rave music.

It's not *quite* the sound yet, imho - the filtering of the bleep gives it more a touch of acid. but the basics are here.

2. Meng Syndicate - Sonar System (1991)

Yes yes, now we are here. That's the good stuff. The real stuff.

The track title indicates a sonar sound. And combined with the deep drum beat, it's quite the hypnotic experience. Dance into trance.

3. Tellurians - The Navigator (1992)

Just like with "energy flash", the bleep sound is borderline acid/trance here. But it's still a whale of a track.

And the "navigator" vocal creates a thematic connection to submersibles / sonars, or spacecraft / interstellar transmissions.

4. Stomach Basher - Wowy Zowy (1992)

The formula for "bleepcore" tracks is set by now. Hypnotic, minimalistic, almost infinitely looped "Signal" sounds while deep pounding beats fill the lower registers.

5. Defcon - Blob (1992)

Sports a "blob" instead of a "bleep". but things are getting harder now. One of the first tracks ever with a "Gabber" kickdrum.

6. Hardsequencer - Brain Crash (1993)

yes, now we are talking! Central European Rave hit #1 of 1993.

It's almost too hectic for a "bleepcore" track. And the sound is far away from sonars, or any earthly machinery by now.

7. Neophyte - Level Creator (1993)

Neophyte also did "Communicate", which could qualify here, but this one fits better, imho. total signal-gabber-mayhem.

8. Sub Source - Sonic Distortion (1994)

Apart from Neophyte, Scott brown was a titan when it came to using "signals" in his tracks.

The sounds are almost too hectic here, but I guess it still counts.

9. Rave Creator - Bleep Blaster (1994)

Marc Acardipane having a stab at this "genre", and a good one at that. The title even references the sound.

10. Bodylotion - No Worries (1998)

After the early 90s, "rave signals" became more rare. This is one of the tracks that still champions them.

It's an alias of Neophyte again - but even a bit rougher and tougher this time.

Then, there came a big silence. Our beloved sublunar rave morse codes were very hard to find in the two decades to come. Jump or Newstyle tracks sometimes incorporate them.

But, earthlings, rejoice! They are now a common sight (or sound) in retro techno/rave/gabber productions.