Most often, the term is used to describe high in energy music, including some forms of trance music, that features samples, loops and synthesizers.[citation needed] Less intense forms of rave music include ambient music, and chillout music, usually used in separate areas of raves known as "chill rooms" that provide a place for ravers to rest and relax from the intense dancing.
By the middle 1990's, the term was used more generically to mean any one of a number of different styles (or combinations thereof) that might be played at a rave party.[citation needed] In this sense, rave music is more associated with an event than a particular genre, per se.[citation needed] At a rave there can be different "arenas" or areas that play different styles of rave music.[citation needed] Very large raves, called "massives,"[citation needed] may include ten or more separate arenas, each with their own music style, ranging from hi-energy techno and trance to chillout and ambient in the chillrooms situated next to or within the surroundings of the main event. It is played with all sorts of instruments e.g. electric guitar, drums and sometimes violins.