Scarce beats, a dearth of DJ scratching and a lack of the pulse-pounding electronic rush of techno will all end this weekend in Lansing.

The Capitol Area Electronic Sound and Image Festival is coming to Lansing tonight and Saturday.

The festival is free to the public and is the first electronic music festival in the Lansing area. It’s also the first outside of Detroit, said festival organizer and performer Jerome White.

White performs in Digitalz, which will play at the festival.

The event is being held in Lansing’s Old Town in the parking lot of the Brenke Fish Ladder. The parking lot is at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Turner Street.

National and local acts will bring in their styles including drum and bass, house and trance.

The event was inspired by the Detroit Electronic Music Festival this summer, White said.

He said techno music has been seeping into the mainstream lately, through the work of other artists.

“It’s something people such as Cher and Madonna and even the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys have taken formerly underground musicians to remix their work,” White said.

White said the music people will hear this weekend is the real stuff, not the watered-down version that has slipped into the pop charts.

“The majority of any electronic music you hear on the pop charts is a cheesy version of it,” White said, referring to bands like the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy.

The highlight of the festival will be the performances of Traxx tonight and Derrick May on Saturday.

In addition to the sounds, a food court, a beer tent and booths selling merchandise will be on hand. The event is being sponsored by Old Town Mainstreet, a group of businesses in the area.