Something positive - awesome goosebumps

It's a balalaika-style effect placed over the top of the strings simulating an alarm bell so it makes your ears *** up - don't know what quality/bit-rate you're listening to, but on my stereo, it's a real tingler.

Hmmm....can't hear it yet - can hear synth strings?

Indeed. Hearing the whispering makes me want to run away - not at all pleasant. "Mistaking ASMR for hackles raising" seems to capture this for me!

I wonder if this sort of stuff plugs directly into the 'old' brain and the possibility of triggering the fight or flight response - and as ears have lots of primitive muscles attached that would make them twitch and move around, is the effect like getting a very, very pleasant head-massage?

I find I respond to music that has hidden fire alarms or sirens layered into it - it's appealing to the brain and demanding attention or action.

Britney Spears' 'Baby one more time' has a fire alarm bell effect running through it - it demands attention from the listener.    It's cleverly hidden in plain sight - starts at 1:52 - once you hear it, it's always there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4

Leaf said:

none of the commonly considered triggers of it would even be comfortabl

The ones involving voices (especially whispering) and watching people closely just creep me out completely - I suspect that a lot of people are mistaking ASMR for their hackles rising, to be honest. The connection with sexual frisson which people seem to talk about a lot leaves me non-plussed as well - I have never thought of it as erotic in the slightest.

Wow! I think I might have to listen to some trance/dance music tomorrow! I’m really glad that you had such a good experience!

Trogluddite said:

However, I have spoken to enough people about it who aren't just desperate for a bandwagon to jump on that I believe that it is a genuine phenomenon.

I definitely get this, though I didn't realise it was a 'thing' and certainly didn't realise there was a bandwagon to jump on. Mine is mostly triggered by music but on occasion by something I see in a film. A quick online search of ASMR tells me that none of the commonly considered triggers of it would even be comfortable for me never mind pleasing. 

I'm done with Christmas Cards said:

Felt like I was being shrinkwrapped in awesomness.

That is a brilliant description of it. 

If, in common with many autistic people, you have become a collector and connoisseur of cod-Latin/Greek and initialisms, may I offer you another for your collection?.. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)  [Mmmm, delicious!]

I experience this too, often induced by my tactile synaesthesia. There has been something of a meme'y thing going around the internet for a while about it, including lots of videos which are purported to induce it (the vast majority of which I find either boring or slightly disturbing). Much of this is, I believe, flim-flam by people with raging confirmation bias (the word "orgasm" seems much favoured). However, I have spoken to enough people about it who aren't just desperate for a bandwagon to jump on that I believe that it is a genuine phenomenon.

Music sometimes does it to me, including when I'm playing an instrument. I also get it from certain visual stimuli, usually the ones which bring out my synaesthesia (e.g. watching ripples on water, certain kinds of fractal-like or tesselated geometry). I've known that my nervous system does this for as long as I can remember, but had no idea that it was in any way unusual or had it own special tongue-twister of a name until I started talking to other people with synaesthesia (I thought that was "normal" too until it was identified at my autism assessment).

Enjoy!

Awesome!

I get a similar thing with synth music when they start mucking about with the spatial effects like chorussing - as can be heard in Vitalic's Poison Lips from about time 2.05 in the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2dfGC1oziE

Lots of old Gary Numan stuff has similar effects.