Discovering Electronic Music Through Beat Saber and Beyond

What is Electronic Music?

A very simplified definition of electronic music is music made with electronic instruments and devices. There’s a whole history behind the origin of electronic music that goes WAY back in time. The many subgenres of electronic music developed, morphed, and blended over time, each being created in a certain place in the world in a certain time period for a certain reason according to the current circumstances.

The subgenres, which may even have their own vast array of subgenres (!?), span from EDM (electronic dance music), synthwave, chiptune, ambient, and so many more. I’m just mind-numb at how many subgenres there are. Like, how can you tell the difference between futuresynth, chillsynth, chillwave, vaporwave, dreamwave, and retrowave? Or the difference between house, techno, dubstep, trap, and drum & bass? Well, they are all indeed distinct, even if they sound similar, and the musicians and fans of those kinds of music know the differences.

Not all electronic music is my cup of tea, but I have come to appreciate a lot of it. I personally prefer synthwave and chiptune because of the 80's influences and retro gaming. When it comes to EDM, that music is typically associated with clubs, raves, and underground venues, which I don’t engage with at all. I did find that I do like some types of EDM music itself, so I have my select genres and artists that I’ll listen to every now and then when I could use more energetic music.

What is Beat Saber?

Beat Saber is a VR (virtual reality) rhythm game that was officially released in May 2019 by Beat Games. You use two different-colored virtual sabers that are reminiscent of Star Wars lightsabers to slash incoming cubes to the beat of a variety of songs in bright, flashing obstacle courses. The gameplay requires getting into the right rhythm of the song and precision to hit the cubes with the correct-colored saber in the correct direction indicated on the cube. In the base game, there are song packs full of original songs and some specific artist songs from outside the game, and there’s the option to buy music packs for even more content.

I got to play it for the first time in 2023 after my dad had gotten our first VR headset, the Meta Quest 2. It was all kinds of newness all at once, with it being VR, the unfamiliar music genres, and a whole different way of gaming than I was used to. It was absolutely fantastic, and Beat Saber became my favorite VR game. I can go into more detail about why in another article. By the way, I only play Beat Saber vanilla, as in I only play the base game content.

Some of My Beat Saber Favorites

Below are a few of my favorite songs to play on Beat Saber, and you can find them on my Beat Saber Favs Mix on Spotify. Despite not being a loud, intense person, I found myself drawn to a lot of the loud, intense songs, so if you’re listening to the music I list below, please make sure your audio volume isn’t up too high.

Firestarter by Tanger

Found in OST 5 (Original Soundtrack V)

Instant favorite. It wasn’t the first Beat Saber song I played, but by the time I worked my way to the OST 5 pack and played this one, it was a done deal. The upbeat vibe, the bold bass, the fun map, the perfect song length (for me to play in Beat Saber), the right level of challenge… it was perfect.

Light it up by Camellia

Found in Camellia Music Pack

I had already tried out several other Camellia songs (and was being destroyed by them) by the time I tried this one. This one hit me like Firestarter did – instant favorite. Even with its inherent playability disadvantages – being a Camellia song (= ridiculous difficulty) and being six minutes long – I always enjoyed playing to this song.

CYCLE HIT by KASAI HARCORES (DJ Genki, C-Show, Camellia)

Found in Camellia Music Pack

This was another difficult one, no surprise since Camellia’s name was attached to it, and it actually took me a little while to realize how much of a masterpiece this song and associated game map was. It was a brilliant collaboration song with distinct sections for each musician to shine and then combining them all for a climactic ending.

Burning Sands by Boom Kitty

Found in OST 3 (Original Soundtrack 3)

This was the first song to capture my interest in Beat Saber in the first place. It was distinct with an Egyptian/desert-themed sound that was incredibly cool, and the map was just fantastic to play.

Crab Rave by Noisestorm

Found in Extras

Bright, bouncy, and short. Crab Rave was a perfect starter song because of its two-and-a-half-minute length and fun sound.

Immortal by Slippy

Found in OST 3 (Original Soundtrack 3)

In December 2024 (yes, last month), I finally learned what trap music was. Apparently, I had already been acquainted with trap because Immortal, which I came to know back in 2023… is a trap song. I only figured this out because as I was writing this article, now in January 2025, and doing research and listening to the songs I am going to feature, I finally connected the dots. The sound of Immortal makes complete sense now, because I could never figure out what genre it was – I just knew I found it really different and fun to play to.

Full Charge by Pixl

Found in OST 3 (Original Soundtrack 3)

Full Charge was a very danceable song, and while I found it edgy like Immortal, its sound was a lot more pleasant to the ears than the harsh, clashing sounds of trap.

World Wide Web by Nitro Fun

Found in OST 7 (Original Soundtrack 7)

OST 7 came out in 2024 and featured yet another fantastic set of songs to play. World Wide Web was a perfect blend of EDM and the 8-bit video game electronic sound.

Electronic Artists Outside of Beat Saber I Discovered

While on my outer space journey for space-related songs in 2023, I came across a whole lot of electronic music. Here’s a sampling of them:

Propagation by Com Truise

My first official electronic artist that I came to know about was Com Truise. I was listening to the radio in my room in early 2023 and this song was used as background music at the end of one of the news stories. I used the Google Sound Search app on my smartphone to “listen” to the song on the radio so I could find out what it was. Since I was at the start of my outer space music exploration, anything with a synthwave, chillwave, chillsynth, cybercore sound piqued my interest. Com Truise’s style is “slow-motion funk” in the synthwave genre.

Break Free by Teminite

On the other end of the spectrum, Teminite’s music tended to be intense and bold. Since I already knew about him by the time OST 7 in Beat Saber was released in 2024, I immediately noticed his name and was excited to see his inclusion in the game. He collaborated with Boom Kitty for the song, The Master. Teminite’s genre is EDM/dubstep.

Starlight by Rogue

With a range of lighter-toned songs like Starlight to darker-toned songs like Rattlesnake, Rogue’s songs always bring cool beats and bass. His music style is spread across several genres, including future bass, dubstep, pop, trap, and house.

Lost in the Void by Shikimo

Keeping things chill, futuristic, and space-y, Shikimo’s music definitely hit all my criteria for my outer space music search. He’s a synthwave/chillwave artist.

Cosmic Road by Sung

When I heard Sung’s music, it had a strong synthwave sound that I really liked, so he became one of my top standard synthwave artists.

Invaders by LukHash

LukHash’s music was a fun discovery because of his 8-bit fusion sound of chiptune, synthwave, and EDM.