System F — Out Of The Blue

Ferry Corsten as System F, at the exact moment Dutch trance was inventing itself in real time. Cathedral-sized strings, a lead that sounds like a squadron of angels, and a breakdown so unhurried you can feel a whole festival holding its breath. Play it on a proper system with the sub actually working and it is still one of the most physical experiences dance music has ever produced.

Corsten was 25, running his Tsunami imprint out of Rotterdam, and had just finished the first Gouryella record with Tiësto. 'Out Of The Blue' was written over a single week in early 1999 on a Korg Trinity and an Access Virus B. Corsten has said in interviews the melody came 'almost fully formed on the first afternoon; the rest was arrangement.'

The signature lead is three detuned Virus B saws stacked over a sampled Trinity string patch, running in B minor. The breakdown — 90 seconds of pure strings with a single tom roll for punctuation — was, at the time, longer than any comparable trance breakdown on record. The mixdown was cut at Wisseloord Studios, the Dutch major-label complex where U2 and Def Leppard had recorded; Corsten paid for the session out of pocket.

Reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1999 and #1 on the German Dance Chart for six weeks. Voted #1 Trance Record of 1999 by DJ Mag readers. Tiësto opened with it at Innercity 1999; Judge Jules and Pete Tong both cued it as Essential New Tune within the same fortnight.

• UK Singles Chart#4
• German Dance Chart#1
• Dutch Top 40#7

• 2:20The lead enters full-strength.
• 4:10The 90-second string breakdown begins.
• 5:40Kick returns. This is the moment.

• Original Mix (1999)

  The definitive 140 BPM version on Tsunami.

• System F Remix (2002)

  Corsten's own harder rework.

• Blank & Jones Remix (1999)

  German hard-trance reinterpretation.

• Ferry Corsten Rework (2020)

  21st-anniversary reissue with modern mastering.

'Out Of The Blue' effectively defined the Dutch-uplifting template that Armin van Buuren, Rank 1, Vincent de Moor and Ferry Corsten himself would ride for the next five years. Corsten's own 2002 remix (as 'F.C.-Kahuna Mix') is arguably harder than the original; the 2020 Ferry Corsten Rework re-issued for the record's 21st anniversary streamed 12 million times in its first month.

• System F was named after Corsten's initials (F = Ferry) and his fondness for the Roland System-100 modular.
• The strings are not a real orchestra — Corsten sampled a single Trinity patch and layered it 16 times.
• Tsunami Records folded in 2004; the 'Out Of The Blue' masters are now held by Corsten's Flashover imprint.