Alpha Portal

The story behind Alpha Portal

Alpha Portal is the joint psytrance project of Avi Shmailov, better known as Astrix, and Yoni Oshrat, better known as Ace Ventura. Both artists had already built major solo careers and had collaborated together before creating Alpha Portal, but the new name was intended to give them a separate space for a faster, harder and more overtly psychedelic sound.

The project became visible in the middle of the 2010s and quickly developed its own sound through releases such as Full Throttle, festival sets and the Dimension mix and compilation series. Instead of blending the members’ catalogues into a generic super-duo, Alpha Portal emphasised a specific shared aesthetic: heavy low end, rapid momentum, dense psychedelic effects and large-scale drops designed for peak-time dancefloors.

Alpha Portal has operated intermittently because Astrix and Ace Ventura both maintain demanding solo schedules and other collaborations. Even so, it remains a recognised current project , not a closed historical alias, and it continues to be referenced by the artists as part of their active collaborative network.

Origins of Alpha Portal

Alpha Portal grew out of the long-running creative relationship between Astrix and Ace Ventura. After earlier collaborations in a more progressive direction, they established the project as a distinct outlet for tougher and faster psychedelic trance.

Early career

Full Throttle, released in 2016, is an important early marker. Around the same period the duo launched Alpha Portal mixes and began presenting the project on major psytrance stages, giving it a separate public identity from either member’s solo show.

How the career developed

The project became closely tied to the Shamanic Tales orbit and to the Dimension compilation concept. Collaborations with other psytrance producers further expanded the sound, while Astrix and Ace Ventura continued to release and tour independently.

Alpha Portal sound

Alpha Portal is high-impact Psytrance built around rapid basslines, hard percussion, acid detail, psychedelic effects and tightly engineered festival dynamics. Compared with much of the members’ solo material, it deliberately leans toward a rawer, more forceful peak-time sound.

Place in psytrance history

Alpha Portal represents the modern psytrance super-project model: two already established headline artists creating a new collaborative identity with a clear musical purpose. Its appeal comes less from genre invention than from the way it concentrates two major strands of contemporary Israeli psytrance into a single heavier project.

Connections and influence

The project connects directly to Astrix, Ace Ventura and Shamanic Tales, while also intersecting with many of the collaborators surrounding their solo careers. Alpha Portal should remain a separate artist identity instead of being treated as an alias for either member.

Alpha Portal today

Alpha Portal remains current but intermittent in 2026. The project is still identified by Ace Ventura as an ongoing collaboration with Astrix, although activity is less continuous than either artist’s solo career.

How the sound changed over time

Selected releases in the archive

Festival connections

Related projects and collaborations

Artists with overlapping styles