Hardcore trance, is a hybrid of Trance music and Happy Hardcore with House elements. The style focuses largely on fast 4/4 beats with uplifting leads, looped vocals and extended builds leading to frantic crescendos, before 'dropping the beat'. BPM range is 165 to 170 or more. Well known DJs and producers include Scott Brown, Hixxy, and Breeze & Styles. Although the style follows rigid musical structures and is beat lead there is sufficient diversity for niche genres, hence the confusing number of names which refer to a musical sound many outside the scene might think to be the same genre. Hardcore, or Happy Hardcore, was the 'original' sound of the genre, with very basic beats, often containing 'zany' sound effects and the common 'chipmunk' pitch-shifted vocal.

As Happy Hardcore evolved it lost its 'Crazy' and frantic characteristics and turned softer and then into Hardcore as we know it today, a little over produced in some places.By over-production, we mean too many sounds and elements to make up the song. Recently a lot of producers like Dougal, Seduction and Gammer have been turning back to the basic oldskool Piano, stabs and Hoovers formula, stripping the sound to a less dense and more 'primitive' audio landscape, attempting to bring back some of the 'hard' sound which has been lost since new audio technology has lead to an over produced sound. Such dj's such as Sy and Unknown on their own Quosh label, are doing very well in producing one single a month, with either a original on the B side or a remix as per usual. Unfortunately this has also led to a very similar sound record, release in, release out. Build ups, break downs and verse structure being almost the same. Raver baby are also a huge act, with more lighter style tracks, possibly more euporic but less bouncy. Scott Brown is also another artist on his Evolution, which caters for the darker side of Hardcore.These are the higher releasing ones.