Ambient and its variants, such as ambient dance, ambient house, and ambient trance, developed out of, and alongside, techno and electronica. Broadly, it's designed to lull the mind through soothing rhythms, with the addition of samples in the case of ambient dance.

Brian Eno's recordings of the early 1970s practically invented the form. Eno chose the term to refer to a group of his instrumental pieces which favored a loose musical structure in a slowly unfolding soundscape. Other central figures are Alex Paterson, who formed the Orb; and Richard James, the Aphex Twin. Ambient was also an element of newage music, and is part of the musical palete of musicians working in a range of styles, including gath, psychedelic, and Celtic.